The Djinn's Coronet
by greencyanide
Summary: Lily is off to Hogwarts for her first year. But all is not well at Hogwarts. Her friend is having memory lapses, a centaur is attacked in the Forbidden Forests and a former Death Eater is at loose. What next?
1. Chapter 1

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: This is the sequel to 'A Fair Chance'. Lily is on her way to Hogwarts. She is worried that she will be a Gryffindor and will not be able to see Scorpius much. But in a few weeks the two will find out, seeing each other will become the least of their worries...**

**EDIT: Big thanks to Rose, my Beta, for coming to my rescue with her arsenal of commas and corrections :)**

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The sky was overcast, and every now and then, a drop or two fell on her face. It was a sad day; everyone seemed to know it- the sky, the empty street, the gloomy porch. Lily ran her fingers over the soft grass, a drop slid down her cheek- it was not rain this time. She would miss the garden the most. This was where she got her first scab; she smiled wistfully, looking at the old swing in one corner. James had forced her to have a go at the swing, though she was terrified. She had clung to the chains like her life depended on it. When she had swung a little higher, she had squealed and let go, landing flat on her face.

Lily let out a small laugh, thinking about the punishment James had faced when Mum had found out. But the laugh almost died in her mouth, she couldn't even think about not seeing Mum till Christmas. She didn't know why she was being such a baby, when she had complained about a month ago that she was tired of everyone treating her like one. This was what she had been looking forward to for years now.

Lily aimlessly wandered along the flower bed, taking in the familiar smells. She wondered if she was the only one in the whole country who was not excited to go to Hogwarts for the first time. She squatted beside the patch where her treasured Azaleas grew. She lightly touched a bud, remembering how excited she had been when Dad had given her her own personal patch to plant flowers. She had personally picked the seeds at the store, and then she had taken care of the blooms diligently for years. Everyone thought these were the best flowers of the entire garden. Even Scorpius had dared to come close to admire them, though he had sniffed and sneezed for the whole afternoon after that. It was a pity that he was allergic to pollen- Lily loved all kinds of flowers and plants and animals. Though Mum had said she would love Herbology, Lily was not sure. She rarely liked the magical plants and flower samples Neville gifted on all the occasions. They were not at all fresh and vibrant looking, just shriveled and Lily always had a fleeting feeling they would try to eat her finger if she touched them (though she had to admit, a part of this idea was inspired by James and Albus' tales of human eating shrubs and blood sucking vines). So all these plants had found a place in the far corner of the garden, where Mum would water them once in a while, and they grew on like orphans. The one class Lily was looking forward to was Care of Magical Creatures. She couldn't hear enough of the unicorns and thestrals James and Albus had to study. She wished she could take this one class with Scor. He loved animals as much as she did. She imagined what it would be like to pet a Kneazle. Of course, all she was allowed was Rastrick The Restless! Apparently, the tiny little owl looked as calm as a dove as it perched on her shoulder, only a few seconds later. He extended a leg, to which a small roll of parchment was tied. Lily untied it, and Rastrick playfully bit her ear.

"Ow! Rastrick! I doubt you will get chicken nuggets from me. Go ask Mum." she said sternly. Rastrick threw her a look, what could be an equivalent of an expression of apology, and flew off towards the kitchen window.

Lily unrolled the parchment. In the brandishing handwriting, which couldn't be anyone but Scor's, was the short message.

_Don't get upset. Hogwarts will be fun. _

_You will be in Gryffindor, I am absolutely sure. _

_Don't let your brothers plant doubts about that._

She almost had to laugh at how accurate Scor was at guessing her feelings. She looked at the word 'Gryffindor' and felt her heart sink a bit. Being in Gryffindor would be perfect. All of her cousins were in Gryffindor, and it would be like a family in school. But that would mean she wouldn't be able to hang out with Scor much. As it was, her brothers and cousins had not taken to Scor well. It was one thing, when Mum was around with stern glares keeping James and Albus in check with Scorpius. But in school, Lily was sure Al and James would not be so tame. If she was selected in the most anti-Slytherin House, there was even less chance of meeting him. On top of it, he was two years older, with more coursework and less free periods. She felt a little dejected and hoped she would be in Hufflepuff or Ravenclaw, but she realized she was neither too hard-working, nor too brainy to be in either of those.

Was she even brave enough to be a Gryffindor? She was not too ambitious either, so to say. Would they have no House to sort her in? Lily was panicking.

Great! Just when I thought I couldn't be more sad! Lily sulked back towards the porch, and sat on the steps.

After a few minutes, Ginny called from the door.

"Lily, dear. Come inside, or you might catch a cold. A blasted day it is, and it will start raining hard soon."

Lily lazily rose and walked towards her mother. "I hope Dad comes back soon today."

"Oh, yes he will be back in an hour, and then Teddy and your grandparents are coming too. Now, you have packed everything, haven't you?"

"Yes, Mum. I checked the list! What do you think; I will forget to take my stuff on my first term?"

Ginny laughed at her exasperation. "No, my little Lily is growing up. I trust her to pack things correctly."

Lily smiled. "Though that didn't stop you from checking her trunk twice last night."

This time Ginny laughed. "When did you become such a light sleeper?"

"I couldn't sleep for the last two days."

"Don't worry, excitement does that to people sometimes." Ginny said and hugged her.

It came right up to her lips to tell Mum about how opposite of excited she was, but Lily swallowed her words and just hugged her mother back.

**x x x x x x x**

Long after the plates were empty and forgotten, everyone had settled in their own small groups with animated conversations. Ron, Teddy and George were arguing about who had more chance of winning next season- Chudley Cannons or Wimbourne Wasps. Arthur Weasley and Harry were in deep conversation about introduction of Wiznet- the wizarding equivalent of internet. Molly Weasley was lecturing Rose about staying away from Michael Burns at school, while Hugo, Albus and James were all lying on the floor, showing off each other's collection of Chocolate Frog Cardsand rehearsing their plans for the entire next year. Lily was automatically incorporated in the last group, though she found herself constantly distracted from the conversation. She quietly rose, and walked over to the end of the table from where Ginny and Hermione were contentedly watching everyone. She wrapped her arms around Ginny's waist, and laid her head on her shoulder.

"Hey sweetie. What happened? Why aren't you playing with them?"

"I don't- I feel tired."

Ginny dragged a chair from the table and Lily sat down. "I told you to take a nap, didn't I? You shouldn't have spent the whole afternoon out in the garden. You have a long journey tomorrow."

"No, it's not that."

"Then.."

Hermione looked at her kindly. "Don't worry, Lily. Everyone gets the first time jitters. Everything would be perfect. Hogwarts is unlike anything."

"I know. I mean, everyone said so. But.." She looked desperately at both of them. "What if I don't get sorted into any house?"

"You know, sweetie, we have talked about this. We don't mind if you don't get sorted into Gryffindor. You will make friends anywhere you go, the talker you are!"

"No, you don't understand. I don't know if I am brave, or hard-working or really smart or cunning. So if I am not any of that, which house will take me?" Lily's voice was so desperate, Ginny had to struggle to keep herself from hugging her.

Hermione took it herself to reassure the little girl. "Lily, now these talents aren't written in gold on anyone's head. How do you think I got into Gryffindor and not Ravenclaw? I don't know myself, not even today. No one has to kill lions with bare hands to be brave."

"I will never kill lions to be brave."

Hermione laughed. "See. You are so compassionate. Now that's a quality any house will be lucky to have."

Lily seemed slightly more convinced.

"It's not just that." Lily now eyed her mother a little nervously. "I figured if I am sorted into Gryffindor I will not get to hang out with Scorpius much."

Ginny sighed. She had known this would bother Lily. Truth to be told, she herself had taken to the quiet and polite boy after the few times they have met in the last summer. She could tell, Lily would miss the older boy terribly. But, being a mother, and fully aware that her daughter's feeling towards him were still childishly friendly, she said, "Lily, honey. Not everyone gets sorted into the same house, do they? I have been friends with Patriciafrom the day I joined, and she was a Ravenclaw. I was close with Fiona and Iris and they were both in Hufflepuff."

"But not Slytherin." Lily looked hurt.

"Do you think he's not good because he's a Slytherin?"

"No!"

"Then that's settled. What everyone else is thinking hardly matters. But remember, Lily. He's going to be in third year. He will have a lot more to study than you. So you cannot expect him to be around too much."

"I know." The smile that had been emerging on Lily's face faltered a bit, before reappearing. "I know he will probably be in library all the time, studying for his O.W.L.S already." She giggled.

Ginny felt better- Lily was still a child, her moods were as capricious as Mediterranean rain. But this was also what concerned her and Harry most. Once in Hogwarts, Lily would be pretty much on her own, even though James, Al, Rose and Hugo and Hermione would be there too. Ginny knew how much the little girl depended on her, she was afraid that her friends would not understand her moods.

Harry called Lily, and Lily bounced off towards her Dad.

Hermione seemed to have read Ginny's thoughts and as Lily was out of earshot, she gently placed her hand on Ginny's shoulder.

"Ginny, you know you have to let go. She will get used to it."

"I know, Hermione, I know. But she is still such a child, I don't- Do you think I am being over-protective?"

"Maybe. I do admit, Lily is very puerile, but she knows what is right. Don't underestimate her."

.

"Hey Lil. Come one, I have got something to give you." Harry said, placing a light kiss on her forehead.

Lily's smile widened, if that was possible, in glee as they went upstairs, into Harry and Ginny's room. Lily plonked down on the cosy bed, her fingers entwining the velvety coverlet. "What is it?" her voice could hardly contain the excitement.

Harry chuckled and pulled out a large brown package from his cabinet, and gave it to her.

Lily almost immediately made to tear off cover, but Harry caught her hand.

"Not until you get to Hogwarts." Harry saw the smile wavered, and sat down beside her.

"Lily, I just want you to remember that I could have given this to James or Al. But I expect only you to use it wisely."

Lily was sure, she would burst with pride, but the curiosity about the package was also threatening to spill.

"Thanks, Dad. I promise I will use it well."

.

That night, when Lily couldn't fall asleep, she got up and looked out of the window. The sky had cleared, and Rastrick was hooting contentedly after finishing off a sumptuous meal of pork chops. He flew on to her window sill, and nibbled her finger lightly. Lily smiled- it was his way of assuring her.

"I know, Rastrick. We have long and eventful year ahead."

Little did she know exactly how eventful the year would turn out to be.


	2. Chapter 2

Scorpius looked around the station anxiously. It was already crowded and there was no sign of the Potters or the Weasleys. He had already run up and down the length of the platform twice and was about to go again, when his mother put a hand on his shoulder.

"Calm down, Scorpius. She will be here any minute now. You know how crowded the roads are this time of the year." She was right, but Scorpius just wouldn't rest.

Just when he decided to just simply wait in the compartment- the last compartment, as he and Lily had decided- he heard a huge commotion.

"Oy, watch where you are going!"

"Serves you right, smashing into my trolley like that!"

"Okay, you two can stop bickering, or I can drag you to the train by your ear. The choice is yours."

"If you rush through the barrier all together, you will certainly knock over each other."

"Okay, bye Mum, Dad. Write to us and see you in December", a number of young voices chorused.

Even though Scorpius couldn't see who were making such a hullabaloo about walking through the platform, he knew it could be none other than the Weasleys and Potters.

Within seconds perhaps, a bright red head was bobbing beside him, all smiles and gushing. "Hi, Scor! How long have you been here? Ohh, I am so excited! We would be at Hogwarts in just a few hours! I can't believe it"

Scorpius chuckled. "Lily, breathe."

Lilly stopped and drew in a deep breath. "Thanks. So, let's get on?"

"Yes. Goodbye, Mother. I will write soon." Mrs. Malfoy hugged Scorpius briefly and smiled at Lily before waving them goodbye, "You two have fun, and don't get into trouble."

"I promise we won't." Lily smiled before dragging her trunk towards the train. When they were at the door of the last carriage, Lily asked, "Why wasn't your Dad here, Scor? He was here the last two years."

"Father- Father went to Grandfathers'. Here, let me help you get the trunk up." Scorpius took her trunk from her, trying to change the subject subtly. However, Lily was too blunt for subtlety, or perhaps she was deliberate. She was about to probe him more, before James and Albus showed up in front of them.

"Lily, why in the name of Merlin's beard are you in the last carriage?" James asked bitterly, but he was looking at Scorpius, as if the question was addressed to him.

Lily seemed to have picked up on James' antagonistic attitude. Of course she did, she had been expecting this. "I don't want to sit with you and your posse of jokers, James. When I want to hear your stupid jokes, I'll find you, don't worry."

James was getting visibly angry. Scorpius realized it had much to do with him, and he was not in the mood for James' hexes at the moment- there'd be plenty more time for that, a whole year in fact, he thought bitterly. So he called truce- looking at Lily he said, "Hey, Lily, I think you should find a seat somewhere up front. You're a first year and you'll be going to the castle on the boats, so you should stick to the group."

Lily cast him a hurt glance; Scorpius internally sighed sighed internally - she hadn't realized why he was trying to send her off.

James snatched the handle of Lily's trunk from Scorpius and Lily walked into the corridor, while Albus smiled like an idiot. Scorpius heaved his own trunk onto the train, when he heard the last whistle. The guard shouted, "Get on the train, boy!"

He stood at the door for a moment trying to see his mother in the crowd, but she had already left. He shut the door as the train swayed into motion and went on to find an empty compartment.

**x x x x x x x**

Lily sat beside the window, her forehead pressed to the glass-pane. She was sure she would have a headache if everyone laughed at James' jokes one more time. She looked at her eldest brother, and felt disgusted by how he could be so comfortable making jokes at someone else's expense. However, she didn't say anything. The last thing she'd wanted was to shift all his energy to her, when she didn't even want to hear his voice. Mum had repeatedly told James and Albus to not scare her about the Slytherin being in Slytherin again, but of course, she had been a fool to think they would actually listen to her.

She tried to shut out the noise that was the response to another joke, and tried to concentrate on the spells she had tried to learn from her new Charms book. If she had been in Scorpius' coach, she could have asked him about it. But asking James or Albus about schoolwork, before it classes had even started will result in being snubbed and called nasty epithets.

Lily eyed the door- Manohla Prescott was sitting beside it, laughing her head off. Lily silently got up, and when everyone was caught up in the conversation, she slunk out of the coach. She let out an audible sigh of relief once she was out of the door compartment. Realizing that it was the noisiest coach, and that the other coaches were a lot quieter, she groaned; why did her family have to be so conspicuous?

She looked both ways, and walked off towards the end of the train. On her way towards the last compartment, she bumped into the food trolley.

The plump woman pushing it, smiled kindly." Would you like a treat, dear?"

Lily checked the items and carefully picked out a box of Chocolate frogs and two pumpkin pasties.

"That'll be a Galleon, darling."

After paying the lady, Lily cradled the food in her hand and set off towards the last compartment again, when she heard someone call her name.

"Hey, Lily! Is that you? Hey, this is Nathan- come sit with us?"

Ah, not Nosedribble Nathan- Lily cursed her luck. She turned back to face Nathan, and smiled sweetly. "Would love to Nathan! But I got to take this to James, you see. He has been waiting for ages now, so I better go before he ticks off."

"But.. Isn't James in the first compartment, as always?" Nathan seemed confused and turned to look towards James' coach. Lily seized the opportunity- she dashed breakneck, hoping Nathan would think she had just gone and not talk to James. She glanced back and Nathan had already gone inside his coach.

Suddenly, she hit something and was knocked flat on her back. When she looked up she realized it was not a something, but a _someone_.

A man, with a shock of shocking white hair, was standing tall in front of her. He had a very angular face, with broad square cut jaws, a thin straight nose, and very sharp, electric blue eyes which stood out frighteningly against his white hair. Though he looked no older than thirty five, there was something venerable about him.

Though he hadn't said anything, Lily felt scared, and stuttered, "S-sorry. I didn't- see you there."

The man looked at her stolidly for a few seconds, before saying, "That is obvious when someone runs while looking behind backwards."

Lily cringed; his voice was very impersonal, as if it were coming from someone else. Lily wondered if he was jeering at her because his mouth was pressed in a thin wide line, as if he was smiling. But she realized that was not the case, because the rest of his face was unusually expressionless, and his eyes looked almost angry.

The man cocked an eyebrow up, without, as it seemed, disturbing a single muscle of his face. Lily realized she had been surveying his face for quite long, embarrassingly long. She blushed and scurried on her feet, gathering her treats. Mumbling another apology, she set off towards the last coach again without looking back, this time quite determined to make it before without crashing into someone else.

Having reached her destination successfully, she entered the compartment, which, save save for Scorpius, was empty. Scorpius looked at her questioningly as she dumped the contents of her arm onto his lap, and sat threw herself down beside him.

"Let me guess, you lost your way and had to ask the driver for a map to the last carriage." Scorpius chuckled as he helped himself to a Chocolate Frog.

Lily thumped his arm playfully. "No, but I bumped into someone."

"Who? Not Nathan, I hope."

"Yes! Him too! Did he ask you to join him, too? What did you say?"

Scorpius showed his now chained copy of Monster Book of Monster. "This bad boy saved me. Told him, I needed to chain this."

Lily laughed out. "Lucky you. I bolted when he asked, and bumped into someone else. Speaking of which, I didn't know adults traveled in Hogwarts Express."

"I didn't either. Why? Whom did you see? Your Dad?"

"Oh, shut up, Scor. I'm not joking. I bumped into this strange-looking man on my way."

Scorpius seemed to think for a moment before replying, "Well, he could be the new Potions professor. Professor Slughorn retired last year."

"Hmm, I heard Al say something about that. I don't think I'll like him."

"Does it matter if you like a professor or not? It's the subject you're going to study, not write the teacher's biography."

"That's such a lame excuse to back up bad professors." Lily huffed.

Scorpius laughed. "Don't worry, I hate Professor Binns too, but I get by history quite well. The trick is to learn sleeping to sleep with eyes open."

Lily tried to look serious, but gave in. "Oh, this professor looks like he eats students for breakfast. I don't think feeling sleepy will be a problem."

"Yes, I'm sure he'll fricassee you if you don't get good marks and throw a feast."

"Ah, I am hungry now that you mentioned fricassee. Pass me the pasties."

"I find it equally amazing and disgusting that one could feel hungry, hearing oneself fried and floating in sauce."

"Oh, hush dear. If you want, I'll ask him to serve Scorpius medium rare."

**x x x x x x x**

They had no idea how the hours had passed, but now they sat fully dressed in their coach. Scorpius stuffed the book they had been reading back into his bag, and his fingers brushed against Lily's hands.

"Lily! You are freezing! Are you okay?" he asked, concerned.

"I'm fine. I'm just scared." Lily was, in fact, quite pale.

Scorpius held her hands and looked at her sincerely. "Lily, that's fine. But you have no reason to be scared. Has anyone in your family been in any House other than Gryffindor? No, right? So I'm pretty sure you'll be one put there too."

Lily nodded, afraid she might be sick. Scorpius squeezed her hand and said, "Lily, you should get back to the front. You'd feel better if you see the newcomers. You'll make new friends. Come on now, go on."

Lily didn't move until Scorpius gave a light push. She looked at Scorpius with such fear, Scorpius wanted to hug her and say everything would be just fine. But instead he just smiled encouragingly. After all, she had her brothers to comfort her.

"Okay, I'm going. See you at Hogwarts then." He could barely hear her.

.

Lily quietly shuffled off the train, and James pulled down her trunk.

"C'mon, you are going that way. There's Hagrid waving." he said handing the trunk to Lily. Lily turned to see the herd of first years making their way towards Hagrid. Lily smiled as she walked towards the giant man, and he waved back. Most of his shaggy beard was grey and there were more wrinkles lining his face than before. But his beetle-black eyes were twinkling as ever.

"Come o'er here. Firs' Years this way, come on!" he shouted waving his lantern in the air.

Once sixty odd students were gathered around him, he beckoned them to follow him to the lake. A blonde girl beside Lily whispered, "Do we have to cross this lake? Oh, but we might fall and I don't know how to swim! Hayden, promise you'll be in my boat."

A brown-haired boy beside her snorted. "What'll I do? Jump into the water and rescue you?"

Lily smiled, but the girl didn't look happy. "My mistake, Hayden, I should have known. You are good for nothing."

Lily felt obliged to assure the girl. "Hi, I'm Lily. I know for sure, we won't drown. And there are lots of creatures, which'll save you, in case you ever fall in."

Somehow, this frightened the girl even more and the boy sniggered. Lily looked at him disapprovingly and he coughed and cleared his throat. "Hello, Lily, I'm Hayden. And this chicken is Melissa."

Hagrid rushed the three of them into one boat, and once it had set off into the Lake, Melissa sat stiff as a board, clutching the seat beneath her.

When Lily looked at her, she smiled. "I'm sorry; I'm a Muggleborn, so I don't know much about magic. This is a magical school, so I bet there'll be creatures in the Lake." She laughed uncertainly, which earned another snort from Hayden.

Melissa shot an angry glance at him. "I don't know what makes _you_ so cocky. You never practiced magic!"

"At least I am not scared by my own shadow. You'll probably be in Hufflepuff."

Lily could have groaned out loud. She was in a boat with two complete strangers and yet they were, somehow, back in discussing Houses.

Thankfully, Melissa didn't pursue the subject and tried her best to insult Hayden, though her voice, being extremely high-pitched and shaky, made the attempts rather funny.

Finally when their boat bumped on the ground, Melissa looked about ready to pass out. Hayden and Lily helped her out, as Lily saw Hermione wave to them, from a distance. Lily remembered Aunt Hermione had first years' duty.

"First Years follow me. Please, in a proper queue". It took a lot of stumbling into each other, and stepping on toes before everyone formed a queue which pleased Hermione. Once inside the castle, they were stopped just outside the Great Hall, for Hermione's mandatory lecture.

"Good evening, students. I am Professor Granger Weasley?. In a minute you will be inside the Great Hall, ready to be sorted into your own House. The House will be like your family in for the next seven years. You will sleep your House dormitory, lounge or study in your House common room. You will participate in activities and earn _or _lose House points, depending on how you choose to conduct yourselves. Now follow me, without commotion."

Lily was quite taken aback by Aunt Hermione's professional attitude. In fact, she guessed not many would like her if she was... so strict? Lily was glad she didn't have Arithmancy, not yet at least. But then, what was she expecting, given the way Aunt Hermione keeps Rose and Hugo on tight leash. Lily was also glad that both her Mum and Dad were not teachers where they could keep checking on her all the time.

Once inside the Great Hall, it was all Lily could do to not gasp. She came from a magical family, and was used to all kinds of magic. But there was a limit to magic, and Hogwarts seemed to have defied that. She saw the thousands of lanterns floating in mid-air, the ceiling seemed to have vanished and given in to the sky. Four long tables were placed in the huge hall, while at the other end, the Professors sat perched at the High Table.

Lily was so engrossed in seeing looking around her, taking in every detail, she almost jumped when the whole Hall burst into applause. She looked ahead and saw a hat bowing to the crowds. Ah, the Sorting Hat, she thought, I missed the song! Even the first years beside her were clapping and cheering. Lily saw Aunt Hermione pull out a thick roll of parchment and her stomach did a flip. The sorting was beginning!

She looked weakly in the direction of the Gryffindor table, and her brothers and cousins waved and gave her thumbs up. She tried to smile back, but she was sure it looked choleric. She looked at the Slytherin table and Scorpius smiled widely, and she felt a little courage stir up inside her.

"Atherton, Damien!"

The shout shook Lily and she watched as a nervous boy trotted off towards the Hat. Lily shifted her eyes towards the floor, trying to cope with her tension.

After a few moments, a deep voice boomed, "RAVENCLAW!"

The second table to her left cheered. Lily cursed that her last name started with P and her sorting was still a long way off.

In the next fifteen minutes, she kept hearing shouts of Aunt Hermione and the Hat alternatively..."Baxter, Andrew"- "HUFFLEPUFF!"... "Brace, Sandra"- "HUFFLEPUFF!"... "Calvert, Jacob"- "RAVENCLAW!"..."Cook, Anna"- "GRYFFINDOR"... "Cooper, Brian"- "SLYTHERIN!"... "Demming, Richard"- "SLYTHERIN!"... "Eagleton, Spencer"- "SLYTHERIN"... "Ellis, Katherine"- "GRYFFINDOR!"... "Jones, Melissa"- "GRYFFINDOR!"

Melissa hopped to the Gryffindor table, with Hayden beside Lily, staring with his mouth wide open. Lily was feeling just a tad more confident, while Hayden looked a little deflated. Finally, after what seemed like ages, they got to "P".

"Paisley, Hayden!"

Hayden jogged down, the aisle, and the hat had barely touched his head before it shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

He looked quite elated, as if he had been unsure of the result to start with. Lily waved at him, and mouthed 'Congrats', when she heard-

"Potter, Lily!"

Lily felt like she was walking too slowly, because everything around her moved in slow motion. Some of James' friends were thumping him on the back, Rose was smiling, Hugo was clapping- all of it was too slow.

After an eternity, she sat on the stool, and the hat was perched on top of her head.

_Ah, what a fresh mind!_- a voice whispered in her ear- _shining bravery, full of compassion. What a determined soul, what pure honesty..._Lily wondered if her mind was playing tricks with her_... you have the potential, yes, very dedicated. But you are distracted. Where better to put such a quarrelsome heart than..."_GRYFFINDOR!"

The entire Gryffindor table erupted and Lily felt full to the brim with happiness. She set down the hat, and ran towards her brothers. They both buried her in a bone-crushing hug, while Rose and Hugo beamed.

"Ah, and the last Potter gets into Gryffindor too!" James seemed ecstatic.

"Too bad, you couldn't make it to Slytherin." Al teased.

At the mention of Slytherin, Lily's eyes trailed off to the table on the other side, and caught Scorpius' eyes. He smiled and gave a well-practiced 'I-told-you-so' look. Lily laughed and waved, before turning back to the table. If she had stared a moment longer, she would have seen the sadness in the grey eyes.

.

After everyone had finished their food, Headmistress McGonagall stood up. A silence fell over the hall.

"Well, now that we are almost at the end of the feast, I would like to point out a couple of things. First Years, welcome. I am sure you will have a charming time over the coming years. About the rules, none of it has changed, and I am hopeful that all of you shall abide by them. Now, as you all know, Professor Slughorn retired last year. So we are lucky to have Professor Rathbone among us, who has kindly agreed to take his post."

Lily, who hadn't really noticed the teachers in the High Table, looked up to see that the man she had bumped into on the Hogwarts Express was standing. He was quite tall, towering over Aunt Hermione and looked out of place in his Muggle attire. The students clapped somewhat unsurely, unable judge what kind of a teacher he was, by the blank look on his face.

James whispered beside her. "That man looks like a Dementor kissed him!"

Immediately, Professor Rathbone shot his piercing eyes towards James. James and Lily both gasped- James' voice was hardly heard by Lily, let alone reach the High Table.

Lily shivered a little- if he stared with those eyes all the time in class, she would probably be hypnotized. However the man had sat down and was talking to Aunt Hermione.

Lily yawned as Professor McGonagall instructed everyone to retire to their dormitories. She was full and sleepy, and very contented that she could make had made it in Gryffindor. Before leaving the Hall, she waved Scorpius goodbye as he headed towards the dungeons. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him- the dungeons did look gloomy, as Rose had said. _And_ they'd have Potions in there, with none other than Professor Rathbone. Something told Lily, it was not going to be a pleasant affair.

.

That night Lily dreamt that she blundered terribly in her first Potions class, and Professor Rathbone gave her detention for life.


	3. Chapter 3

Lily stumbled down the stairs of Gryffindor tower, her bag dangling behind her. She was running late, and on top of that, her feet kept getting caught in the hem of her robe. Why did she not let her mother tuck a few inches? She cursed and thought it was better not to give new ideas to James to taunt "Tiny Potter" about.

She rushed into the Great Hall to see all the First Years sitting at the tables. Hayden waved at her and she sat down between him and Melissa.

"What happened? Aren't we late for class?" she asked breathlessly.

"We haven't got our timetables yet, remember? You brought _all_ your books! Are you insane?" Hayden looked at her bag, which was looking like a boulder.

"Oh! Yes, I forgot. I saw the tower empty and I thought I'd miss the first class. So, all the seniors are in class, then."

"Uh-huh. A Slytherin boy was asking for you, though," said Melissa, somewhat skeptically.

Lily's eyes flew immediately to the corner of the Slytherin table, where Scorpius usually sat. The seat was empty now, he had gone to class.

"Oh, there come our timetables. I hope there is no Rathbone after lunch. I don't think I can stand in a room full of picked animals with a full stomach," said Hayden, as Lily saw Aunt Hermione moving down the aisle handing the first years a piece of parchment.

Aunt Hermione professionally handed them their timetable, without so much as a glance at Lily. Lily felt a little disappointed; she had half-expected her to wish good luck before her first class. But, as Rose always said, she thought smiling at her own family at school 'favoritism'.

Lily's thoughts were interrupted by Hayden's groan. No doubt, their first class, after lunch, was Double Potions with Slytherin. Lily made a mental note of being ready with her books well before class. Something told her, the ire of Rathbone would indeed be very unpleasant, and she'd be careful to cross paths with him as least as possible.

But she didn't have much time to ponder over, as their first class was Charms with Professor Flitwick.

**x x x x x x**

Students from all classes filed in lazily, as the four tables were filled up with chattering boys and girls, discussing their first classes of the term. Lily was poking a piece of chicken with her fork, and trying to read the first chapter of her Potions book. James snorted beside her.

"Yeah, you might want my books too, Lily. That way you can prepare for the next three years right now!"

"Oh, shut up, James. I don't want to look stupid in front of Professor Rathbone," said Lily.

"Don't worry, he's really slack on Gryffindors. He will be extra caring to first years," said James.

Lily was confused. "What do you mean, 'slack on Gryffindors'?"

"He gave us fifty points in class, that too 'cause Meredith answered some stupid questions."

Lily was not pleased. "That hardly seems fair."

"Sorry, last time I checked, no one appointed you the judge. Look, the green team's seething over there," James sniggered.

Sure enough, the Slytherins were huddled in small groups, loudly discussing and waving fists in air, clearly displeased about the new teacher.

"What did he do to them?" asked Lily, trying to spot Scorpius in the far table.

"Oh, nothing, if you don't count not being able to answer fifth year questions," answered Rose, who had joined them.

"He asked you fifth year questions?" Lily was incredulous.

"Not us, them. Dorian and Kate couldn't answer, so he deducted twenty off each," said Rose, and by her tone it seemed she found that unjust.

"Serves them right. Come to think of it, Rathbone is helping us taking revenge for that Quidditch match. They _totally_ fouled and got _three_ penalties for nothing!" said James, hotly.

"Shut up, James. If he is so partial in taking points he could be giving grades partially too," said Rose.

"Oh, are you a Slytherin, Rose? I didn't think so! Please stop worrying about the entire population!" was James' logical answer.

Lily realized that another bout of arguments will ensue, so she closed her book and picked up her bag. "I will go and talk to Scorpius, I haven't seen him today."

Rose and James looked at each other and then at Lily. Rose's eyes were sincere, James seemed to be brewing a clever joke and stifling a laugh.

"Er- Lily, didn't you hear?" said Rose, cautiously.

"Hear what?"

"Scorpius got detention."

"I don't believe it! On first day?"

James' face was now displaying a wide grin. "Yeah, tried to be smart with Rathbone."

"What? I think being insolent with the teacher is your forte James, not his."

"Rathbone thinks differently."

Rose cut in. "Well, that wasn't fair either. He asked Scorpius a question and he answered as well as he could, it is after all, from O.W.L course. Rathbone sneered and said it was incorrect and just said the answer in a different way. Someone from the Slytherin bench whispered that's what Scorpius had said, and since Rathbone couldn't be sure who he was, he set Scorpius detention. He's probably in the staff-room setting up the time."

"That oughta teach Mr. Goody-Two-Shoes a thing or two about respect," sneered James.

"He was not disrespectful. I wonder how _you_ scraped off, after saying he was kissed by Dementors," said Lily, fuming.

James looked unsettled. "Of course, he didn't hear it," he said, as though convincing himself.

Lily did not answer. She strode down the Hall, towards the staff room. But she had barely crossed the Hufflepuff table, when Scorpius entered the Hall, looking quite flushed. Lily waved over at him, and joined him before he went to sit with the rest of his house.

"Hey, I heard about that detention. How did it go?" asked Lily anxiously.

"It's nothing bad. Just a five-foot essay I have to write sitting in his office," mumbled Scorpius.

"Five foot! Is he mental or what?"

"I know. But, I guess it was my mistake. I should have just kept my mouth shut."

"What the heck are you talking about? He asked a question and you answered."

"I know, but it was an O.W.L question and I remembered only half of it. Instead of mumbling a lot of irrelevant stuff I should have just said I don't know."

"Don't worry, Scor, an essay should be easy enough for you. Come on, let's get out in the sun. It's too brilliant a day to waste sulking indoors."

"I wish, but I have to go to the library. I have to dig up materials for this essay, I won't find anything in third year's textbooks."

"Oh," said Lily, visibly crestfallen. Scorpius noticed and quickly added, "We can go after class, though. What do you say, meet here at four?"

"Okay. I would like to revise the first chapter of my Potions book, anyway," she added with a smile, as Scorpius picked up a piece of toast and headed towards the library.

However, Lily had barely read five lines, amidst catcalls and bawling that always floated around James, when the bell rang. She gave Melissa and Hayden a let's-do-it look and they headed down to the dungeons.

Lily, Melissa and Hayden were the first ones to reach the class, which looked absolutely out of the castle because of its dank and dismal atmosphere. The other end of the classroom, which led to Professor Rathbone's office, was shrouded in darkness, making the class look bigger than it was. Hayden and Melissa chose the seat at the back of the room.

Lily dropped her bag on the table, but her eyes were fixed on the teacher's desk. There was a big, ugly gecko was sitting on the desktop, its eyes pointed in two different directions. Once in every few seconds, it flicked out its long rubbery tongue and wiped its eyes with it. It made Lily slightly sick, and judging by it's color so did the gecko. Its parrot green was flecked with unhealthy patches of discoloration. Lily didn't know why, but she felt a little pity for it. Hayden and Melissa were busy discussing something, and Lily felt distracted by the gecko. Why on earth was it on Rathbone's desk? Would they do some experiment on it? But she was sure they only dealt with dead animals in Potions (again, she was hit by nausea- and her full stomach did not help). She resolutely got up and walked to the desk. Once near it, it looked even more ailing, and Lily had to work hard to resist the idea of stroking it, as it innocently turned its face up to her. If this gecko belonged to Rathbone, who knew what he would do if she touched it.

"Found Cleocos, have you?" a hollow voice said.

Lily almost sprained her neck, as she jerked up to see Rathbone standing behind the desk.

"Eh... nice ge-gecko," stammered Lily.

Rathbone raised an eyebrow, probably amused, but it made him look even colder.

"Yes, but I'm afraid he has seen better days," he said, caressing the gecko's spine, "Why are you sitting at the back?"

Of course, it was too good to be true.

They were seated in the first bench, under the cold stare of Professor Rathbone, while the rest of the Gryffindors and the Slytherins filed in.

"I hope he doesn't teach anything complicated. And from next class, I'll be the last to come," said Hayden in an undertone.

"I bet only this bench will be vacant by that time," said Melissa.

"Oh, shush you two. I don't think Rathbone endures talking in his class," retorted Lily.

Rathbone sat on his desk, and asked them to take out their cauldrons. They were going to learn the steps to brew Drowsing Draught. Despite their dislike towards the new Professor, he was quite expert in captivating the class and by the end of it, most of them ended up quite liking the class. Of course, they were still not sure about Professor Rathbone, or maybe just his appearance. The fact that he took about ten points from Slytherin did not make him popular among them either.

They were about to leave the room, when, in the hurry, Melissa forgot to zip her bag, and all her books tumbled out on the floor when she slung it over her shoulder. A few Slytherins sniggered, and a brown-haired short boy sneered, "Klutz!"

Melissa's cheeks reddened, but as Lily helped her to stow the books back into her bag, they heard a gagging sound. The boy, who had made the comment, had gone pale and was tottering about clutching his tie, which was apparently chocking him. Everyone looked paralyzed, and some even tried to untie his knot, but failed.

"There will be no taunting in my class," said a very familiar voice, biting out each word.

It was then they saw Rathbone, standing behind his desk, his wand raised towards the boy's direction. Lily was aghast. Was he really using a spell as punishment? A spell that is nearly asphyxiating him?

The boy let out a groan and fell to the ground, wheezing. His housemates rushed to see if he was alright. The Gryffindors stood stunned to their places, scared and sympathizing the curled up figure on the floor, now coughing.

Lily did not know what possessed her, but something kicked her inside as she saw the boy looking fearfully at Rathbone, and then towards Melissa.

Before she could control herself, she yelled, "Are you MAD? HE COULD HAVE DIED!"

Now everyone in the room turned their eyes to her, but Lily didn't feel scared as a dangerous smile flickered on Rathbone's face.

"You can share your insights during detention, Miss Potter. My office, tonight at seven."

His words hung in the air, even after he swiftly left, and Lily realized she had not scored as well as James in Rathbone's book. She also realized she didn't care.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Thank you for reading, and I am sorry I take so long to update. But the thing is, I rarely write my stories, the stories write themselves and this particular one has been very quiet for sometime :). Though I have a general plot, it is taking time to unfurl. I hope you enjoy reading as much as I do writing.**


	4. Chapter 4

Lily set out of the Gryffindor common room at fifteen to seven, carrying her bag, in case Rathbone set her an essay too. The only silver lining to this detention was that Scorpius would be there too, and she was sure the dungeon would seem less ghostly with a friend sitting beside. There were a few students in the Great Hall still finishing up their dinner, laughing and chatting. Suddenly, Lily realized her first day at school was not going the way she had expected. Starting school with a detention surely surpassed even James' record.

The dungeons gave her chills, and she stood outside Professor Rathbone's door hesitating to knock on the door.

_Lily, what is the matter with you? He _won't _eat you_, she thought, summoning her willpower. The fact that Scorpius would be here in half an hour cheered her up a little. As she was about to rap on the door, she heard something crash on the other side of the door followed by an incoherent shout.

Lily almost pressed her ear to the door, but not quite doing it, to hear more clearly.

A thick voice, which she could bet her life on, was not Rathbone's, bellowed, "I HAVE NOT COME TO BE YOUR SERVANT!"

A much quieter voice, which Lily guessed was Rathbone's, snapped, "Shut up, you buffoon! Even the elves in the kitchen can hear you!"

"I DON'T CARE! I JUST WANT MY-"

"If you don't hush right now, I will slice your tongue into two and you will have only liquids for the rest of your life!"

"I did not know starving was a part of the deal!"

"You ate enough!"

"BUT WHY IS THE RUM GONE?"

That was followed by another crash, and everything went so deathly silent, Lily was tempted to run back to the Gryffindor tower.

Suddenly, the door wrenched open, and she almost stumbled forward into Rathbone, who stood watching Lily as if she were the most intriguing creature in the whole, wide world. While Lily stood concocting an excuse, she wondered what she should feel most- embarrassment or fear.

"I- Good Evening, Professor."

Rathbone did not move a muscle.

Lily gulped. "I didn't- Sorry, sir- I mean, I just came now."

Rathbone now hitched one eyebrow up, and Lily felt she would gladly face a Norwegian Ridgeback than go into his office now.

"I'm sorry, Professor. I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I- I meant to knock- I just heard- someone..." Lily trailed off, realizing she couldn't be in any more danger than she already was. She hoped Rathbone would start talking soon, his silent stare was petrifying her.

"I am afraid I don't understand what you mean, Miss Potter."

Finally when Rathbone spoke, Lily couldn't understand him.

"Uh... I.. said I'm sorry I overheard your- er- private conversation."

Rathbone's icy stare grew colder, if that was possible.

"I am sorry to disappoint you, but I was the only one occupying this office for the past few hours. I am sure you are hallucinating. But do not worry, I have a very engaging task for you, that will keep your imagination dormant," said Rathbone, seemingly amused.

Lily could not help but sputter. On one hand, she was more than happy that Rathbone was not angry at her for eavesdropping, but on the other hand- she was _hallucinating_?

Lily followed Rathbone into his office. It looked nothing like she had expected- no slimy, pickled animals floating in jars, no gruesome pictures of transformations, no diagrams or charts hanging from the wall. It might as well have been a Ministry employee's office- stately and organized.

Lily stood in front of the huge desk, while Rathbone rummaged inside the drawer.

"Ah," he said, extracting a key from it, and went to the closet at the other end of the room. He inserted the key into the keyhole and opened the closet.

Lily gasped. Inside the closet was a full-fledged room, filled with everything one would expect in a Potions Master's office. Lily looked away, to avoid seeing any floating, preserved creature.

In about half a minute, Rathbone emerged, with a barrel floating in front of him. He set it down in one corner of the room and conjured a table beside it.

"There are some Snowshine fishes in that barrel. You will catch them and skin them. Their skins regrow, so make sure you don't kill any. The fifth years will need them in the next class," said Rathbone waving over towards the barrel.

Lily gagged. "I have to skin them _alive_?"

"You are incredibly slow for your age! Yes, skin them alive!"

Lily could have stood there and argued, but all reason escaped her. What _do_ you tell a man who treated skinning fishes alive as though it were the most natural thing in the world?

Lily walked as slowly as anyone could towards the barrel. Inside it, in the crystal clear water, about seven or so stout, silvery fishes were playfully bouncing around. Lily looked uncertainly at Rathbone again- there was no way she could skin them!

As she dipped her hand into the water, someone knocked on the door.

When Rathbone commanded him to enter, Scorpius came into the room, his eyes traveling from Lily to the Potions Master.

"Ah, Malfoy. Go sit down and write the essay on uses of Snowshine skin, that Miss Potter has kindly offered to peel," he said mischievously grinning at the two of them.

Lily pulled a disgusted face, while Scorpius looked horrified. Nonetheless, he sat down on the desk, as instructed with his back towards Lily. Lily went back to catching a Snowshine, but they were incredibly slippery, and combined with Lily's reluctance, they were impossible to catch.

Lily struggled for almost fifteen minutes before she could actually catch one in her hand. It wriggled furiously, and it was all she could do to keep it in her grasp. With trembling fingers, she picked up the knife from the table. Her fingers were shaking so badly, she would have taken its eyes out, but Lily couldn't even bring the blade near the struggling fish.

Suddenly, she heard a squawking sound, and she dropped the fish back into the barrel with a yelp. The knife seemed hit the floor with an ear-splitting sound shattering the silence of the dungeons. Apparently, Cleocos, Rathbone's gecko had climbed on to Lily's desk and started croaking.

"What is the matter with you?" snapped Rathbone, as he strode over to pick Cleocos up. "Not a single skin! At this rate you will have to stay here till midnight, Miss Potter!"

Then he stroked Cleocos' spine and lovingly said, "Come on, Cleocos. It's time for your Healing Potion."

The gecko started wriggling in his hand, making an awful choking noise, and Lily flinched. The Healing Potion must taste rotten, she thought, judging by the gecko's reaction.

"You! I want to see at least two skins when I come back!" barked Rathbone.

Cleocos made an appealing noise and Lily thought it looked directly at her, before Rathbone disappeared out of the door with it.

Once the door was closed, Lily turned to Scorpius and cried, "Help!"

"Is he mad? He is asking you to actually _skin_ them?" Scorpius sounded angry.

"I know! But I can't even hold them still, let alone skin them! Oh Scorpius, I'm afraid I'll end up killing them!"

"It's okay; you just need to know the technique. The Snowshine fishes are one of the rare creatures which have psychic abilities-"

"Scor! I think just the technique will be fine, I am not going to write an essay!"

"Right, sorry. Okay, be calm and it will calm them. They understand when you want to just skin and not hurt them, if you concentrate hard."

"Concentrate hard on what?"

"That you want to just skin them. Try it, it's easier done than explained," said Scorpius with an encouraging smile, as they heard approaching footsteps.

Lily nodded, and looked down at the barrel. She thought hard what she wanted to tell the fishes. _I am not going to hurt you, I just want the skin. Please be calm, so I can do it properly._

As if by magic (and it probably was) the motion of the fishes seemed to have slowed, and gradually they collected near the surface of the water, hovering in a strange, trance-like manner. Lily gingerly dipped her hand and grabbed one of the fishes. This time it didn't struggle, but fit snugly in her finger. Lily picked up the knife, and very slowly and very carefully traced it across its abdomen. The light trace left a scar, but unlike she had expected no blood came out, neither did the fish show any sign of pain. Encouraged, Lily made small incision in the skin along the scar and started peeling it off ever so gently and lightly. Once the entire skin was plucked off, she diligently released the fish back into the water. The layer underneath the skin was very much like the one peeled off, only lighter, less shiny and a little translucent. The fish seemed to have suddenly snapped out of the trance and swam swiftly back to the bottom of the barrel, where it reduced to a soft, evanescent glow.

It must have taken less than two hours to peel off all the fishes, and Lily sighed satisfactorily as she saw the layers of skin piled on the tray on the table. The barrel looked empty now, except for the huddled, hazy glowing forms at the bottom. Lily looked at Scorpius; he seemed to be revising his essay.

"It's done, Professor," she called.

Rathbone, who had been weighing some roots, came up to her table and picked up a skin in his hands, rubbing with his fingers. He looked at her with that familiar, blank and terrifying expression. He seemed disappointed that she had done it.

"It seems you have done an appreciable job, Miss Potter. If it hadn't been a detention, I would have awarded some points to Gryffindor. But it is, and I will not, so you can leave now."

Rathbone snatched up Scorpius' essay none too gently and told him to leave too. Scorpius picked up his bag and walked out of the door with Lily.

They didn't talk until they had turned a corner down the corridor leading out of Rathbone's office.

Once they were quite out of earshot of Rathbone's office, Lily squealed and hugged Scorpius.

"Oh Scor! You saved me tonight! I really don't know what I would have done if you didn't tell me how to do it! It's such a blessing that you know everything."

Scorpius grinned sheepishly. "Not everything. This was part of my essay, remember?"

"Right. But still, Rathbone was pretty stupid to leave us alone. He wanted me to be clueless so he could be disdainful. It's obvious I'd ask you and you'd tell me."

"You're two years junior and a Gryffindor. So, maybe he didn't expect us to be friends. Pretty major reasons to be quite the contrary."

"Good for us, anyway. But I think he knows you helped me out. Oh well, that's your way to Slytherin dungeons. See you tomorrow," said Lily, waving Scorpius goodbye.

"Yeah, see you tomorrow. Good night," said Scorpius, heading down the steps.

Walking up the steps towards third floor, Lily was lost in thought. The conversation she had heard earlier in the evening was replaying in her head. The voices she had heard from Rathbone's office were so clear, how could she have been hallucinating? Was Rathbone lying? But, why would he? It was not unusual that a teacher had a guest at Hogwarts. She wondered if she should have told Scorpius, but if she _was_ hallucinating, she didn't want him to know.

Hundreds of questions were swimming inside Lily's head, when she realized she was leaning against the huge windows on the corridor towards Gryffindor Tower. The moon was peeking through the clouds, which were hanging low on the horizon. It was a charming night, with a light breeze fluttering across. Lily sighed and looked towards the Whomping Willow, which was swaying slightly. Her eyes roamed across the grounds, Hagrids' cabin and the towards the centaur topiary just below the window.

That's when Lily tripped backwards. She rubbed her eyes, and strained the to see it again- Cleocos was lying sprawled, motionless on the ground, looking ghostly pale in the light coming out of the window on the ground floor. It was very surely dead.

Lily didn't quite know why, but she raced down the steps, towards the dungeon again. She knew Rathbone might twist the situation to somehow blame her, yet she was running towards his office to tell him what she saw.

She banged on the door, panting for breath.

Rathbone opened within seconds and scowled.

"I knew you would be back."

Lily was puzzled. "But how did you- You _know_?"

"Of course, I know. You left it here on my desk."

Now Lily was clueless. "What?"

"You left your bag on my desk, you silly girl! Don't tell me you came for another reason!"

"My bag- Oh! My bag!- yes- no- I came to tell you Cleocos is dead!"

Rathbone's scowl disappeared and his face turned blank again. But Lily knew, or thought, there was some concern- or apprehension?- behind that mask.

"I don't know what you are talking about. Cleocos is right here in my office, come see him if you want," said Rathbone and stepped back.

Lily gasped as she saw Cleocos sitting on the desk, looking quite calm.

"If that will be all," said Rathbone decidedly, handing Lily her bag.

"Ye- Yes. Good night, Professor," stammered Lily, still quite disconcerted.

"Good night, Miss Potter," replied Rathbone dryly and slammed the door shut almost on her face.

Lily ran back towards corridor from where she thought she had seen Cleocos. She leaned over the edge of the window, and to her surprise there was absolutely no gecko, dead or alive.

Utterly confused, Lily walked back towards the portrait of the Fat Lady, thinking she might have to visit Madam Pomfrey for a check-up after all. Hallucinating twice an evening was certainly not healthy.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Written for Professor Flitwick's Prompt of the Day for Friday July 23rd: "BUT WHY IS THE RUM GONE?"**

**Thank you everyone for reading. All suggestions and ideas are welcome. Reviews are treasured.**


	5. Chapter 5

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: A bigger chapter. Hopefully, you'll like it, though it's just building up.**

**Prompts: **

**Sunday : Wish**

**Monday: "Told you so"**

**Tuesday: Shopping and lunch**

**Wednesday: Respect**

**Thursday: Chocolate cake**

**Friday: Headache**

**

* * *

**

Lily was trying to finish her Charms homework, but the common room was unusually crowded and no one seemed much interested in doing the homework laid in front of them. Fortunately, James had a tonne of homework too, so his end was quiet, with him and Jerry Lodwick poring over their Defence Against Dark Arts book.

Once again, Lily read the question, trying to make sense, when Rose plopped down on the chair beside her.

"Need help?" she asked.

Lily did not want to ask for help, not in the first week, at least. So she shook her head, and smiled.

"Don't you have any homework?"

"No, she finished them on the first day," scowled Albus, who had spread a good number of parchments and books over the table. "And she won't even let us have a peek!"

"And why would I do that?" Rose snapped back.

"I don't know, maybe because we are cousins, _family_. And family is supposed to help each other!"

"I _am_ helping you. This way you will do your lesson, and _not_ sleep during your exam like you did-"

"Don't!" snarled Albus, almost knocking over his inkpot. But, of course, the damage was done.

"You _slept _during an exam?" asked Lily, grinning victoriously. "Boy, now _that_ explains why Professor Binns marked you P. And how Dad almost talked to Professor McGonagall about partiality being rampant in Hogwarts!"

"You don't dare..." gasped Albus.

"Mom would be furious. Hmm, it's tempting." said Lily, stifling a giggle- Albus' face was ashen.

"Please, please, please don't tell Mum! I promise I'll get an A this year!" whimpered Albus.

"And I promise pigs will fly on Hogwarts grounds!" snorted Rose.

"You stay out of this! Please, Lily, I promise. Don't listen to broomhead!"

Lily thought sparks might fly out of Rose' bushy red hair, as she narrowed her eyes at the insult. As much as she was enjoying tormenting Albus (that didn't happen often, did it?) she decided to put him out of misery.

"Okay, but if you get anything less than A, I go straight to Mum," she said with a scolding tone. Albus looked so relieved she thought he might pass out.

"Hello, kids!"

Lily almost groaned. James had come to join them, which meant a moderate ruckus was surely to follow; especially with Alaina Sheridan eyeing him eagerly, just waiting to join them.

Rose rolled her eyes and snapped open a package she had brought with her, pulled out a thick roll of paper.

Lily was incredulous. "Rose! Your keep the _evening_ post of _The Daily Prophet_?"

"I like to know what's happening in the world!" said Rose, hurt.

"Not much would happen in ten hours! I bet you will find everything in tomorrow's post!"

James chuckled. "Everything, except 'Magic in your words' by Travis Hawthorne," said James, mimicking a dreamy, husky voice, which was indeed a very distorted imitation of Rose.

Lily giggled, and Rose looked like she trying to remember the most powerful hex she had learned.

"He writes poetry,_ literature_, which isn't supposed to penetrate you abnormally thick skull! At least have respect for things you cannot understand." cried Rose shrilly.

James howled with laughter and Lily tried to appease Rose by asking her for the copy. Rose shoved it to her, skeptically eyeing James.

"Come on, Lily, sample the finest literature of the century- _The hounds bite away at my entrails, so painful is my hunger for thy love_-" said James with a mock- dreamy voice.

"It was beautiful poem!" squealed Rose, as Lily stifled another bout of laughter.

She unfurled the newspaper on the table. Immediately, a flurry of flashbulbs erupted, and for a moment, Lily was blinded. Then she realized the reporters were clicking away at Kingsley Shacklebolt, the Minister of Magic, while he was explaining something.

The headline read: "Former Death Eater Escapes in Ministry Mix-up"

"Hey, isn't that the one they were going to have a trial for next week?" asked Albus.

Apparently, all three of them were leaning over Lily's shoulder to read the paper.

"Yeah, he's that one Dad was getting worked up about. Said his trial is being postponed on purpose," added James.

Lily was puzzled. "On purpose? Why?"

"Dad thinks some old Death Eaters are pulling strings in the Ministry to put off some obvious life sentences."

"Life sentences? But if they are going to put off the sentences, they'd still be stuck in Azkaban, won't they? It's all the same."

"So I thought, but once they are served their sentence, they won't stay in Azkaban. The Ministry is going to imprison them in Motakhlila."

Rose rolled her eyes. "James, please don't make up stories. Everyone knows Motakhlia is just a myth. No one even knows where it is."

"Of course it isn't _just a myth_! Grindelwald was imprisoned there."

"No he wasn't. He had escaped Azkaban, and was off the Ministry's radar for years, so they tried to cover up by saying he was imprisoned in a secret, inaccessible location."

"Hey, it's not like the Ministry is going to make you the Secret Keeper for Motakhlia."

"There can't be a Motakhlia because _no one_ knows where it is. Not even Kingsley!"

"Yeah, and you know this because he'd hand you the map if he knew, right? C'mon, no one knows where Beauxbaton or Durmstrang are. Does that mean they don't exist? You're just being thick."

"I'm not being thick, I'm being reasonable. Anyway, who tipped you off on Motakhlia anyway?"

"That's the point. No one _told_ me. I overheard Dad and Uncle Bill talk about it. Now they wouldn't be discussing it if it was a _myth_, would they?"

Before Rose could open her mouth again, Lily interjected. "So you overheard Dad and Uncle Bill talk about this Mot- whatever it is?"

"Motakhlia. Yeah, Dad thinks it's for the best. These gits shouldn't be in Azkaban, because there's a lot of exposure."

"Exposure to what? Only a dozen of people are allowed into the walls."

"I dunno, don't ask me. I'm just saying what I heard. Wonder what could be worse than Azkaban with hundreds of Dementors patrolling day and night."

"Maybe it's a very bad place, you know, weather-wise," said Albus.

"I'm pretty sure a scalding hot desert or freezing mountains are not worse than Dementors, Al."

"But if there _is_ a Motakhlia, why weren't the Death Eaters who have already been sentenced taken there?" asked Rose.

"Maybe they would be too if Ministry had its way. But there are some powerful parties pulling strings, aren't they?"

Lily couldn't understand one thing. "The only Death Eaters who _have_ strings to pull have all sworn they have reformed. Why endanger their safety by trying to save old comrades?"

"Like your _Scor's_ family?" drawled James.

"And many others, James. Don't start now," snapped Lily.

Albus looked thoughtful. "I see your point. Why would they want to get tangled in the mess they had worked hard to get out of?"

"Maybe we are jumping into conclusions. Maybe it isn't the former Death Eaters," reasoned Rose.

They sat silent for a few minutes, immersed in their own thoughts. Lily wanted to ask Scorpius about it, but wondered if it would be impolite as he might think she was hinting his family's involvement. Lily shut her book, her eyes were itching and a headache was surely to follow.

"I am going to hit the sack, guys. I guess I'll finish it tomorrow morning," she sighed.

"'Night, Lily," said Rose.

James and Albus went back to their homeworks, as Lily trudged up the stairs to the girls' dormitory. The room was quite dark, the torches were glowing dimly. Lily walked towards her four-poster bed, when her foot bumped on something hard and she stumbled over. Groaning, she pushed herself up from the floor, clutching her toes. She had tripped over her trunk, which now lay wide open. Her clothes had fallen out, and Lily crawled over to collect them.

Suddenly, her hands caught on a lump of paper. Lily pulled it to her lap- it was the package Dad had given her before coming to Hogwarts! How could she have forgotten all about it?

She quickly ripped off the brown paper. Something very fluid, yet quite solid fell onto her lap. She picked it up and ran her hand through the cool, soft material. It took a few seconds to apprehend, but when she realized what it is, Lily couldn't believe herself.

Dad had given her his Invisibility Cloak!

**x x x x x x**

Lily had woken up almost an hour ago, but she didn't feel like moving out of the warmth of her bed. It was raining, and all her plans to spend the Saturday on the grounds were dashed. She wished she could just spend her entire day in bed.

She lazily shook off her covers, and walked out of her bed to get dressed. She yawned, opened her trunk to get a shirt and pair of jeans out. The Invisibility Cloak was peeking through the folds of her clothes, and she fondly rubbed it, before stuffing it back carefully. James and Al would flip if they found out Dad had given _her_ the Cloak.

The common room was quite empty except for Melissa, Hayden and a few fifth years. Lily sat down beside Hayden and saw that he was studying a lunar chart very closely.

"Why on earth are you studying something third years are supposed to?" asked Lily.

"Oh, he is not studying. He suspects Siobhan O'Connor is a werewolf, so he's trying to figure out the if she was supposed to have_ transformed _last night, when she went down to Professor Flitwick," said Melissa.

Lily laughed. "She did go down to Professor Flitwick's, you know. Professor was very impressed with her essay, so he intended to ask her more about it."

"She said so. You can't prove it! No one can write such a good essay that she'll be summoned by a professor at the dead of the night!" said Hayden indignantly.

"She was called at seven! Besides, why are you getting so upset? I am sure you are still in run for the coveted position of Professor Flitwick's favourite student!"

"Oh, joke all you want, but when I prove she is a werewolf, I'll have the last laugh."

"There's nothing to laugh about. My grandfather's close friend was a werewolf, and _everyone_ loved him. My Dad said he was the best teacher of DADA they'd ever had. He died fighting in the war too."

"Whatever, I'm not saying it's bad or something," he said, and seeing Melissa roll her eyes added, "Okay, maybe I did. But I'd prove it anyway. Just wait for the next full moon."

"Suit yourself, Hayden. You can be stuck here poring over lunar charts while me and Melissa go down and have fun," said Lily.

"It's raining cats and dogs, Lily. Dancing in the mud isn't my idea of fun. So please don't mind if I don't join you," said Hayden.

"Fine, don't go. I'll go down for some breakfast."

"Breakfast? At eleven? Seriously Lily, unless your want to lick the crumbs off the table, I say it's no use. Anyway, my Mum sent us a chocolate cake, which I'm supposed to share with my friends. Let me bring it, before Amanda sees it and makes a mess," said Melissa heading off towards the girls' dormitory.

Hayden set down his charts. "Hey, Lily, did you see the _Prophet_ today?"

"Hayden, I just woke up. Of course, I haven't seen the _Prophet_ today. Why?"

"There's a murderer on the loose. He broke out of the prison, whatsit called?"

"The Azkaban. Yeah, I know. I read it in last evening's post."

"Do you think he could break in here?" asked Hayden, uncertainly.

Lily laughed out aloud. "Not a chance in hell, Hayden. Trust me, wizards with much more prowess than an ordinary goon have failed at breaking into Hogwarts."

Melissa came down with a big box in her hand. "It's amazing, you know, the sense of balance in these owls. Barney carried this down from London and not a bit of the icing smudged!"

"Well, wizards generally put charms in the boxes for that, but your parents couldn't have done that. So kudos to Barney!" said Lily, helping herself to a particularly large slice, "Mmm, Melissa! This is so good!"

"I know, but wait till you taste one of my Mum's cheesecakes."

"Yes, it's true. It's like a mouthful of happiness!" said Hayden.

"So, how long have you two known each other?" asked Lily.

"As long as I can remember. Our parents were friends before they were married, so we literally grew up together," smiled Melissa.

"That's like us and the Weasleys. But of course, we are related."

"It must have been amazing growing up with so much magic."

"I dunno. Apart from seeing the elders practice magic the only magic I got was Uncle George's treats. That too I had to nick off James and Albus' supplies. Mum and Dad really wanted us to stay away from magic till we got here. But I loved visiting Diagon Alley with Mum; there's so much odd magic going on all around. And I would walk past looking eagerly at Ollivanders, wishing the day I get my wand would come closer quickly."

"I wish my Mum took me shopping and lunch to a magical market," said Melissa longingly.

"My Mum would send me off to Guatemala before that, if she has her way."

Melissa laughed knowingly, and Lily looked apalled. "What? Why?"

Melissa looked at her with surprise, and then at Hayden. Hayden shook his head lightly.

"Well, Lily, it's a miracle I was allowed to come to Hogwarts."

"Why?"

Hayden stayed quiet, so Melissa took charge. "You see Hayden's family owns a big company, a Muggle one, of course. So, you can imagine what his parents felt when Hayden was declared a wizard, which meant he would get completely different education, and thereby will be unfit to sit at the helm of the company."

"Oh," said Lily. She felt sad for Hayden- she couldn't imagine one's parents be disappointed because one is a wizard!

"Yeah, well, they're devastated that the company will go to my cousin," stated Hayden plainly, "I wouldn't have been able to come if Melissa wasn't coming too. Her parents and Professor Longbottom convinced my parents... well, my Dad."

They were quiet for a minute, listening to pitter-patter of the raindrops against the window.

"Anyway, as if any of that matters," said Hayden decisively. "Come on, let's go down. I can't stay holed up here for the whole day!"

"You wanna go down to the library to check out books on werewolves, don't you?" chuckled Melissa.

"Yes," grinned Hayden.

"But I don't think Madam Pince will let you borrow one. I think we have to be in third year for that," said Lily.

"Okay, miss Goody Two-Shoes, we'll try, won't we?"

Lily groaned in mock frustration and joined them.

Madam Pince looked up from her book and disdainfully said, "All copies of Mystic Potions have been taken. Come back after Tuesday!"

Hayden looked confused. "Huh? Uh- I don't want Mystic Potions."

Madam Pince looked doubtful. "You don't? What do you want, then?"

"Uh, can you suggest a book about werewolves?"

Now, Madam Pince looked suspicious. "And why would you want a book on werewolves?"

"I don't know. I am just curious, you know, about transformations. I'm a Muggleborn, so no one can explain to me," said Hayden, in a perfectly reasonable manner.

Madam Pince looked for a few long moments, as if trying to extract the real reason from Hayden's head through eye contact. Then she went back to her book and sternly said, "Anyone below third year requires teacher's permission to borrow books on five x rated animals."

Lily waited till they found a table away from Madam Pince. "Told you so," she said with immense satisfaction, once they were seated.

"What's the big deal? We can ask a third year to get the book," said Hayden.

"Seriously, Hayden, do you really think Siobhan is a _werewolf_?" asked Melissa.

"I guess not. I just want to know more about them, okay?" muttered Hayden.

"Really, if that's it, I can ask Teddy to give you some books. I mean his Dad was a werewolf, so I bet he has lycanthropic literature at home," grinned Lily.

"Sure he won't mind?"

"Who, Teddy? There's a reason why he's called Teddy. He's as cute and friendly as one!"

"Okay, then."

"But I really don't know why you're so suddenly intent to know about werewolves, Hayden."

"Don't you want to know more about their transformations? How they are so close yet so far from beings humans?"

"Er, not exactly," said Lily. She could not understand this highly weird obsession- in fact, Hayden looked quite out of his cool character.

"Hi, Lily," said an all too familiar voice from behind, "fancy seeing you here."

Scorpius was standing, with his arms full of books, which were threatening to fall.

"Hi, Scorpius. Well, no surprise seeing you here. Let me help you with those," said Lily, taking a few books in her own hand. Excusing herself from Hayden and Melissa, she sat down with Scorpius in a more or less deserted corner of the library. She picked up a book and read the cover.

"So, 'Nepal: Haven of Hnarklers', huh? What are Hnarklers?"

Scorpius smiled. "Ape-like creatures, with white fur. The Muggles call them Yeti, The Abominable Snowman."

"Muggles know about them? Are they magical creatures?"

"Yes, they have magical abilities, but Muggles have seen just traces, foot prints. However, they are most definitely abominable. They roar, but if they feel endangered, they make this mysterious sound, called the Song of the Yeti, which puts anyone who hears it to sleep for a hundred years."

"Wow! A hundred years!"

"Yeah. Well, I cannot be a Magizoologist, but I can at least read about it."

"You should really talk to your Dad about it. I am sure he'd not object if he knows how much you love animals."

"It's no use. And he'd just judge me again. Besides, I have five years till I graduate. We'll see about that later. So what's up with you?"

"Uh, nothing much. Just homework. Oh, and I heard there'll be tryouts for Slytherin Seeker next week. You're entering, aren't you?"

Scorpius looked at her sagely. "No, Lily, I am not."

"Why not? You play really well! I mean, you beat James to that golfball Snitch during the summer. Now that's saying something! Besides, your Dad was a Seeker too, he'd be so proud if you become one."

"No, Lily, I have to study. I don't think I can balance both Quidditch and studies, and the latter ranks higher in my priority list."

"Oh, come on! Don't be such a nerd, Scor! I bet you're already ahead of your class."

"Maybe, but as you said I'm a nerd, and nerds should stick to their books," said Scorpius in such a resigned tone, that Lily felt sorry for calling him that.

"I'm sorry, Scorpius. I just mean, you're much more than just books. I know that, I want everyone else to know too."

"It doesn't matter to me if people think I'm a nerd. I'm happy that you think I'm more than that, but I don't need others' recognition," said Scorpius with an air of an ultimatum.

Lily searched her mind for words with which she could motivate, but decided against it.

"Hey, did you hear about that escaped convict?" she asked carefully.

"Yeah, that Death Eater. It's all over the _Prophet_. Wonder how he got away, with all those Dementors guarding."

"Yeah, me too. I bet the Ministry is baffled."

"They must be. Your Dad must be having some rough days in the office."

"Perhaps. I don't know really, because he doesn't discuss office with anyone. I just hope they catch him quick."

"Yeah, me too. But I don't think it'll be easy."

"Why not? All the Death Eaters were caught and they can't catch this one?"

"I didn't say they _can't _catch. I just said it'll be difficult. Because he's a Metamorphmagus."

"Oh."

Lily must have looked worried, because Scorpius smiled and said, "Don't worry, Lily. We are safe here in Hogwarts."

Little did Scorpius know that they were in for a surprise. _An unpleasant surprise_.


	6. Chapter 6

**AUTHOR'S NOTE : A very late update. Sorry about that. And again, a billion thanks to Rose, my Beta.**

**P.S: The spells are mine. "Epoulothoún" means 'heal' in Greek, "lusnyak" means 'moonlight' in Armenians.**

* * *

Lily lay on the grass, on her belly, with her chin resting in her hands. Her Herbology book lay open and the pages fluttered in the wind.

"Lily, if you like the giant squid so much, ask him out. It's rude to stare," said Scorpius, who was sitting at the bottom of the tree beside her.

"Oh, I plan to, Mr. Malfoy," said Lily, turning her head towards Scorpius, displaying the best scowl she could manage.

"Now, don't make that face, it might get stuck," laughed Scorpius.

"I will scowl whenever I want," scoffed Lily. She got up and went to lean on the tree beside Scorpius. Peering into the essay Scorpius was writing, she remarked, "History? Oh God, Scorpius you came out here to write essay on... what is it? Yeremiah the Yolly?"

Scorpius rolled his eyes. "Jeremiah the Jolly. I know you did that on purpose, my writing isn't that bad!"

"Of course it is, why can't you write like normal people? You always add the extra squiggly lines with your letters."

"They're not squiggly lines, they are fashionable calligraphy. You wouldn't understand, your handwriting looks like someone held you at wandpoint while you were writing."

"It's legible. No one mistakes my J's for Ys."

"No one mistakes mine either. You just love poking fun at me."

Lily sniggered. "Yes, you got that right. It's no fun, though. You never fight back. You should see Rose when someone makes fun of her. She goes off like a cracker."

Scorpius laughed. "I bet. She is very serious, unlike you lot."

"Hey, by 'lot' if you mean James and Albus, don't include me. I don't play pranks on unsuspecting first years."

"That's because you are a first year yourself."

"Oh, whatever! But I won't play practical jokes, mark my words. Oh, hey, you've your Hogsmeade weekend coming up, don't you?"

"Yeah. But why are you so excited? You're not coming," said Scorpius. Then noticing the wicked smile on Lily's face, he asked, "Are you?"

"I don't know," she said, trailing off meaningfully, with a smug grin.

Scorpius narrowed his eyes. "Let me guess, your brothers know a secret passage to Hogsmeade."

Lily shook her head. "That's what you came up with, Mr. Know-It-All? It's waaay better than that."

"Unless you plan to tell me soon, I would like you to move away a little. Because my head is about to burst with curiosity."

"Ughh, keep your genius brain inside," she said, then lowered her voice. "Do you know what an Invisibility Cloak is, Scorpius?"

Scorpius eyed her suspiciously. "Yeah, I do. You don't have... do you?"

Lily nodded excitedly.

"Oh! How? Where did you get it?" asked Scorpius, astonished.

"Dad gave it to me before I came to Hogwarts. It's actually grandfather's, but Dad did his fair share of mischief with it too."

"And you plan to continue the legacy?"

"Oh, don't be so high and mighty, Scorpius! It's not like I'm trying to break into Azkaban or something," said Lily, sounding hurt.

"I'm not judging. Just that... what's so wrong with waiting till your turn comes. It's just two years," said Scorpius.

"Come on, Scorpius, I didn't expect this reaction from you. I thought you'd like it if I went to Hogsmeade with you."

Scorpius looked mollified. "Of course, I'd like it, Lily. But it's hardly gonna be fun if you are invisible all the time."

Lily wasn't satisfied. She crossed her arms and remained silent. Scorpius looked at her, as if waiting for her reply, but she didn't respond. So he set aside his essay and sighed.

After a minute or so, Lily spoke out what she had been meaning to ask for some time now. "You're going on a date. That's why, isn't it?"

Scorpius was too startled to understand. "What date?"

"Well, if you're going to act like that, I don't want to ask either," huffed Lily.

"Oh, you think I don't want you to come because I'm going on a date? No, that's silly. I don't want you to get in trouble, that's all. Come if you want to, I won't tell on you," he said trying to pacify Lily. "Just make up a good story for your classmates."

Lily considered for a moment. Then she sighed and dismissed it. "Nah, you're right. I should wait till third year, everyone does. Besides, it's gonna be a task not bumping into anyone and I'd get into loads of trouble if anyone finds out."

Scorpius smiled. "Ah, the dawn of apprehension."

"Shut it. I guess I was just jealous that you, Rose, Al, James and everyone I know are going to be there."

"You will too, in two years time. And Hugo is going to stay back, isn't he?"

"He has detention with Filch."

"For crashing into the trophy room that day? That guy breaks a lot of stuff."

"You can say that again," giggled Lily, "Given the music he hears from Aunt Hermione you'd think he'd mend his ways. Mum says he takes after his dad."

Scorpius chuckled and picked up his essay again. Lily's eyes wandered towards the Forbidden Forests. It was not exactly a sunny day, with the sun peeking once in a while through thick clouds, and the Forbidden Forest looked as looming as it did on a happy day.

"Scor, how big is the Forbidden Forest?" she asked absently.

Scorpius looked curious. "Why, I don't know. Really, how big is it?"

"I should ask Dad, he always got into places he wasn't supposed to be, so I bet he had been in there too," she said.

Suddenly, Scorpius exclaimed. "Hey, did you see that?"

Lily was caught a bit off-guard. She looked around to see Scorpius pointing at the far east corner of the forest, right by the edge of the lake. She strained her eyes to see anything unusual. "What am I supposed to see?"

"I think I just saw a flash of blue light - like magic. I - I'm not sure, could have imagined, though," said Scorpius, without taking his eyes off the forest.

Lily felt an urge to find out. "Come on, let's have a look," she said, standing up.

Scorpius looked surprised. "What do you mean? You want to go off into the forest?"

"Not deep. You know, just around the edge, to look around. Come on, don't be such a chicken, Scorpius!"

Scorpius looked around, unsure. "What if - if anyone -" Then he looked at Lily - her pleading eyes did their job. "Okay, fine. But if we get detention, I'm totally telling on you."

Lily laughed. "I'm sure you won't do that. Besides, what are you going to tell? A first year jinxed you into following her to the forest?"

Scorpius shook his head. "Why do I even try?"

The forest was actually as thick as it seemed this side - almost abruptly starting right off the side of the lake. Scorpius held his wand before him, and walked in front of Lily - he tried to make it look like they had fallen into step like that, but Lily knew it was actually more of a protective stance. They pushed past brambles, and Lily shrieked out when a big spider got caught in her face, prompting Scorpius to relate again, how bad an idea it was.

After that, Lily was so intent on not walking straight into cobwebs, that she barely saw the ground she was treading on, and after a while, she felt her foot squelch on something liquid.

"Ew, what is that?"

Scorpius spun around, waving his wand around. "What, who, where?"

"Don't snap your head off, Sir Leonard! Seriously, Scor, I won't get eaten up. We can still see the castle from here!"

But Scorpius had crouched at her feet and stuck a finger into the sticky, blue liquid that Lily had stepped on. After observing it for a few moments, he looked up at her, his eyes full of surprise.

"Merlin, Lily! Do you know what it is? It's centaur blood!"

"What?" Lily was sure this was a joke, he was definitely trying to scare her out as a revenge for calling him 'chicken.' But Scorpius' eyes were still as wide, as he tried to say something. Lily stood still, wondering how to react, when he stood up.

"Come on, there must be an injured centaur somewhere, we have to help," he said briskly, setting off.

Lily stumbled behind him. "But - shouldn't we go back and get help? Scorpius, we are going too deep."

Scorpius did not respond, but just kept walking ahead. Lily felt intimidated as the forest grew thicker and they lost sight of the grounds, but Scorpius' confident stride kept her calm. After about ten minutes of walking, they heard a crunch, followed by a low whimper.

Scorpius put an arm in front of Lily, stopping her. "Wait, I think it's around that bush. You wait here, I'll go check first," he said sternly.

Lily angrily spouted. "Oh, if you think I'm going to stand back while you go ahead, you are so wrong. It can be dangerous; worse, centaurs might attack me if I'm left behind."

"Okay, but stay behind me."

They made their way around the bush, making as little noise as possible, which was hard because of the crunching leaves below their feet.

Lily almost gasped when she saw it lying on the ground - the blue blood was splattered all over its body, and leaves were sticking to it. It had obviously struggled, but now lay quite still.

Lily approached the whimpering centaur, it was a little female, hardly more than five or six years, if age was to be judged by its stature and human face.

"Lily, don't -" warned Scorpius, as she bent down beside her.

"Hello, little one," she whispered, gently touching the centaur's forehead. The centaur rasped with shallow breath.

"Scorpius, we have to help her. You know some healing spells, don't you? Just patch up her gash."

Scorpius looked white. "But, I - I have never practised them... What if I make it worse?"

Lily looked straight into his eyes. "I know you can do it, Scorpius. If there's anyone I can count on to save a life, it's you."

Scorpius nodded, as Lily held the centaur's head in her lap. "Please stay still," she urged.

The little centaur nodded, still unable to talk. Scorpius pointed his wand to the long, deep gash on her throat, just along the collar bone.

"Epoulothus!"

A thin thread-like wisp shimmered around the wound, and Lily saw it close up slowly and after a moment, it looked like someone had stitched the wound.

Lily beamed at a very dazed Scorpius with pride. "I knew you could do it!"

"It looks a little sloppy, but - the wound is closed."

Lily brushed the centaur's dark hair from her forehead. "Are you feeling better?" she asked tenderly.

The centaur took a few deep breaths. Then she replied, "Thank you for saving my life."

"I am glad we found you. But what happened?" asked Scorpius, kneeling down.

"I was looking around for some herbs and I strayed far away from our territory. I just walked about that tree and I saw a wizard standing. My mother has always warned me against wizards. I was about to run away when he shouted a spell and there was a flash of blue light. I struggled, but could not do anything, as if someone had chained me down. I lay on the ground and he bent over and slit my throat with a knife. I thought he would kill me off, but he drained away some of my blood into little vials... Then he just left."

"A wizard? what did he look like?"

"He was not taller than you, but I couldn't see his face, he wore a hood."

"We should tell-"

But Lily's words were cut off by a thundering of hooves. Within seconds, they were surrounded by almost a score of centaurs, all pointing their arrows at them.

Scorpius instantly put his arm around Lily and drew her away from the little centaur.

"How dare you!" boomed the nearest centaur, towering over them. "You invade our territory and attack a young one! You have not kept your end of the bargain. You have pronounced war!"

"No, we didn't-"

"No, Papa!" shouted the young centaur. "They did not attack me, they saved me. Please don't hurt them, I owe them my life!"

The older centaur looked startled. "Are you alright, Lusnyak? What do you mean they saved you?"

"Another wizard attacked me. They healed me," said Lusnyak, pointing at her now-sealed gash. She tried to stand up, but tottered. The older centaur nodded towards two other centaurs who trotted forward and held her up.

Lusnyak's father looked at his daughter with much concern, then turned to Lily and Scorpius. His gaze bore into them, until finally, he gave a short nod.

"Very well. You have saved my daughter's life, I am grateful. However, I wish to make it clear that the next time a wizard invades us, that will be the last of your kind. You may now leave. Trogan will escort you to the edge of the forest."

Lily and Scorpius ran beside Trogan, a handsome blond centaur. He never said a word until they got to the end of the forest.

"Thank you, for showing us the way," said Scorpius, awkwardly.

Trogan was silent for a moment. Then he looked around him and walked closer to them. Though he did not look formidable in any sense, his unflinching blue eyes made Lily feel insecure.

"Watch out, wizard. Dark times are approaching. The evil one lives in the castle," he said eerily.

"Castle? You mean Hogwarts?"

But without satisfying Lily's curiosity, Trogan sprinted of deep into the woods.

"Come on, Lily. Someone would report us if we don't go back soon. Your brothers will chop my head off if they find both of us missing," said Scorpius. "Wait, let me clean off the blood. Scourgify!"

When they entered the library, there was just only one other student there; a sixth year hunched over a pile of books. They picked up two random books off the shelf, and sat in their usual secluded table.

Lily opened the book and took a deep breath. "Tell me I just dreamed the last hour," she said.

Scorpius sighed. "So I wish. But, it... doesn't make any sense. Why would someone almost kill a centaur?"

"Not just kill a centaur, but collect blood samples!"

"Yeah, it's so.. disgusting."

"Absolutely. But why would anyone want centaur blood?"

They both pondered over their thoughts, and finally Scorpius threw up his arms in defeat. "Well, maybe we are just reading too much into it. Maybe someone from the Ministry, or - or St. Mungo's is collecting blood samples of different species."

Lily gave him a you-know-that's-stupid look. "And what was Trogan saying about evil in the castle?"

"I don't know! Could this be any more mysterious?"

Lily pursed her lips. She had something else going on in her mind. Why would someone want centaur blood unless it had some use?

"Scorpius, does centaur blood has some useful properties? Like healing or - something?"

"Not sure, but hey, we are in the library. Let me ask Madam Pince for a reference book."

Scorpius returned with a thin book, not more than two hundred pages. The title read The Stargazers : Centaurs across Centuries.

Scorpius carefully opened the contents page. "Let's see, magical abilities... page one hundred four."

Lily pored over Scorpius' shoulder trying to read the page. She could barely see the small letters, so Scorpius told her to sit down and they started scanning the page together.

Lily found a small star scribbled at the margin of the left page. "I think this might help... The centaurs are expert astronomers, their blood is said to be influenced by interstellar phenomena. Their blood has special properties which can nullify the effect of some common poisons like Arcaetra, Ignis glaciem etc."

Scorpius shook his head slowly. "But that still doesn't make any sense. These poisons can easily be countered by bezoar, who in their right mind would try to kill a centaur to make a simple antidote?"

Lily sighed. "Maybe the one who isn't in his right mind."

"Or her," corrected Scorpius distractedly.

Before they could pry out another book, a couple of fifth years joined their table with a great load of parchment and books. Both of them agreed, that it was better not to tell anyone, because one, they had no proof and two, reporting the incident was rather like admitting they went into the forest alone, thereby inviting detentions, or maybe even a suspension. Realizing that they would not find anything useful, Lily suggested they go back to their dormitory and catch up later.

x x x x x x

"Lily! Where have you been? We thought you got lost somewhere in the castle!"

Albus and Rose were the only two sitting in the common room.

"Where's everyone else?" she asked.

"Well, they still have a class left. Not everyone skips classes like Albus," she said, throwing an irritated look at Albus.

"Shut it, I am not going for the record of attending every class of the year like you, Rose. I wish you had a class now, at least I'd have some peace. Anyway, where were you? Saw you last at lunch with Malfoy," asked Albus.

"So that's what you were concerned about. That you saw me last with Scorpius? Don't worry, Albus. I am sure if he intends to initiate me into some non-existent terrorist clan, as you suspect, he would not choose to do it at Hogwarts," she snapped.

"Hey, I didn't mean it that way! Don't jump down my throat. I'm sorry I asked," scowled Albus.

Lily felt a little guilty, because she knew Albus had not meant to be rude about Scorpius. It was just a bad way of putting the words together.

"Relax, I'm sorry. Just feeling a bit jumpy - nothing to be concerned about, just a lot of homework. I was down at the grounds doing homework, so was Scorpius and then we went to the library.

"At the grounds, huh? I hope you weren't getting cozy."

Lily did not even feel like returning his comment.

"Oh, by the way, Melissa was looking for you. Said you were supposed to work on your Transfiguration homework with her," said Rose.

Lily slapped her forehead. "Oh yeah. I completely forgot! Do you know where she is?"

Rose and Albus shook their heads. Albus slung his feet up on the table, leaning back on the chair. "Look, there's Hayden down there," said Albus, peering out through the window. "What the hell was he doing in the forest?"

At this, Lily sat up straight. "What do you mean the forest?" she said, running to the window.

"There, see?"

Sure enough, Hayden was coming out of the forest, not very far from the spot where she and Scorpius had come out. Hayden looked very composed though, so he must not have gone very deep.

"Maybe he was just collecting Potions stuff – herbs and all, you know," said Lily, more to herself.

"Lunatic," muttered Albus.

Lily wanted to snub Albus, but she herself couldn't imagine what Hayden was doing in the forests. She decided she would knock some sense into his head. He just couldn't sneak in there, especially not with someone attacking innocent centaurs in broad daylight. Suddenly Lily wished she had gone straight down to Aunt Hermione to tell everything.

But first she needed to think things over, in a peaceful, quite place, away from Albus and Rose. "Anyway, I think I'll hit the showers. See you guys at dinner," she said, heading for the girls' bathroom.


	7. Chapter 7

The day couldn't have been more bizarre. Centaur attacked, Hayden making a quick escape to the forests – what next? Lily wished she could ponder on the circumstances for a while, but she didn't have the time to do it. Her assignments were due and Professor Rathbone had sprung up a test next week. She tried to seek Hayden out, but she could neither find him in the Common Room, nor at dinner. What is wrong with that boy? Even Melissa wasn't in her usual spot and she came in only a minute before she left the hall. From her searching look, Lily understood her friend knew as much about Hayden as she did.

She made a second visit to the library after dinner, this time with more purpose. She noted down some information about Mandrakes and headed back to her dormitory, keeping up a brisk pace. She was trying to figure out a routine to follow the next two days that might help her cope with all the work, when she heard a clicking sound from the passageway, perpendicular to the one she was walking down. Though the curfew was about to set in within ten minutes and it could simply be Peeves, Lily simply couldn't resist taking a peek. She tentatively walked down the deserted corridor, following the sound, and said, "Hello? Is anybody down there?"

The clicking sound suddenly stopped and Lily lost its trail. She looked around a bit, but with a look at her watch, turned back. It could have been her mind playing at her, but Lily swore she saw a shadow move. She turned on her heels and broke into a run, desperately seeking a moving shadow, but found none. "Hello?" she shouted again.

She was about to dismiss it as a shadow of the tree outside, swaying in the breeze, when there was a distinct, human form, rocking slightly to and fro in front of the huge window. Lily swallowed and walked slowly towards it.

"Hey," she said, this time it wasn't a question. The rocking person froze. Quite certain that whoever that shadow belonged to would make a run for it, Lily covered the distance quickly, desperate to catch a glimpse at their face.

Hayden must not have noticed her because he did not lift his face, while she stood a few feet away from him. He clutched a string of what looked like rosary beads in his hand, and stared at his own feet as if they were the most fascinating thing in the whole world. Lily did not know how to react; she didn't even know which question to ask! What are you doing here? What's that in your hand? Why are you making that strange noise with your tongue?

But all that came out of mouth was a faint, "Hayden…"

That must have been the first time Hayden had heard her because his head snapped up so quickly, Lily was afraid he might have broken his neck. But was it really Hayden?

She couldn't comprehend the alien look in his eyes, the curious lack of recognition and the mysterious way his face looked older than he was. She was not the one to suffer from self-doubt, yet Lily wondered if this was Hayden's doppelganger of some sort.

Lily was about to take a step closer when someone barked across the corridor, "Lily!"

Everything had been so eerily quiet the moment before that Lily almost jumped out of surprise. In the tiniest moment that lapsed between her taking her eyes off Hayden to see Aunt Hermione walking towards her and turning back to where Hayden was, Lily felt a whoosh of air. Even before her eyes traced back to its previous position, she knew Hayden was gone. She was about to make a run for it, when Aunt Hermione grabbed her arm.

"_What _do you think you're doing? Do you know it's well past the curfew hour?" she said indignantly.

Lily hardly heard the long lecture that followed on the way back to the Gryffindor Tower. What was happening to Hayden? Or, what was happening to her? Why was she getting caught up in the wrong places these days?

_~o0o~_

"Mr. Smithson, would you like to answer the question?" asked Professor Bernard, looking down at Nolan Smithson, who was fast asleep with his head on the open Charms book.

Lily kicked Nolan under the table. Nolan jumped from his seat, looking quite lost.

"What was the question?" he asked Lily, desperately.

"This is transfiguration, Mr. Smithson, not naptime," said Professor Bernard, moving away. But once the professor turned his back to him, Nolan lost no time in going back to sleep. Lily had to admit, this particular lesson was far from exciting. But she thought falling asleep was a bit disrespectful, so, with some effort, kept her eyes open.

"So, that brings this class to close. Do you have any questions?" asked Professor Bernard, gathering up the few perfect quills, and a bunch half-quill-half-lizards. Lily's was a quill, though not perfect – it was acid green in colour, just like the erstwhile lizard.

Lily was the first to leave class and she waited outside the classroom, waiting to catch Hayden. She had to talk to him, face-to-face, otherwise she might burst with curiosity.

A tap on her shoulder made her turn around. It was Melissa.

"Hey, Lily. I wanted to talk to you. Er- have you seen Hayden lately?" she asked, a bit cautiously.

Lily motioned her to the table, a little away from her brothers. "I was about to ask you the same!"

Melissa looked worried, and frankly, so was Lily. "I don't know what's going on. He didn't come to dinner last night, and I haven't seen him all day. In fact, I haven't seen him since yesterday morning."

Lily pursed her lips. Should she tell her about last night? Deciding that it would probably be best to let her know, because, after all, she knew Hayden longer and better than her, Lily said, "Um, I did. Last afternoon, I… er, saw him come out of the Forbidden Forests," – Melissa clamped her hand over her mouth, her eyes growing wide – "And then, I was returning from library last night and I saw him. In the corridor, he was… sort of praying, I don't know. He had rosary beads in his hand."

Melissa now frowned in genuine confusion. "Rosary beads? No way. His… entire family are atheists. It must have been someone else."

"Really, Melissa? Do you think I'm blind? And do you think an atheist having rosary beads is more strange an occurrence than walking out of the Forbidden Forests?"

Melissa shook her head. "I don't know. I just have to get a hold of him. His owl delivered a letter from his home yesterday, and it lay unopened in the Common Room all day!"

"Until you opened it?"

"Yes, now don't judge me. I'm sure they wouldn't have minded. They wanted a prompt reply."

Lily looked at the groups of students filing in and out of the Great Hall for a long time.

"I am going to report to Professor Granger if he doesn't turn up by tonight," said Lily, picking up a sandwich.

_~o0o~_

"I'm sure that's a lie."

"It's statistics."

"All the same."

"Wanna bet?"

"Bring it on. I could use some extra cash. How about a fiver?"

"Sounds fine to me."

That was all the Potters and Weasleys and Melissa could discuss that evening, while the books and parchments lay open and unattended on the table. The upcoming Quidditch tryouts were on everyone's mind and in case of the Potters, in about eighty percent of their conversations. Only Rose Weasley was least interested and she resolutely stuck to her Herbology book.

"But, if what you're saying is right," started Lily again, "then Kyle Bainbridge should have made it to the team last year."

James tossed his head back in frustration. "How many times do I have to go over this before you get it in your thick skull?"

Lily frowned. "But that's exactly what you said. You said that if two from each year, second to fifth, try out, then one of the third years are going to end up in the team. Kyle fits the bill!"

"No, he does not! Didn't I also mention that if the fourth year is a Muggleborn or a half-blood, it's that guy—"

"Or girl," reminded Melissa.

"That _person,_" amended James, "will end up in team."

"Who was the fourth year when Kyle tried out?"

"Chuck McKinnon. _Ergo_, we see him on the team."

Lily sniggered. "Where did you learn the word 'ergo', James?"

James made a face. "Laugh all you want, I'm taking your fiver."

"I wouldn't depend on it if I were you. I know, for certain, Bells will make it to the team, not Atkins!"

James was about to retort, when Albus dropped a heavy book in front of them. "I am shocked. No, I am horrified!"

James looked up without humour. "Why? Mum finally found out that it wasn't my water balloons that wet your bed this summer?"

Lily and Melissa laughed out loud; even Rose joined in the very implicative 'ooooh' Lily started.

Albus, after a satisfactory punch on James' back, sat down beside Lily. "I can't believe you think Bells will make it to the team. I am trying out for that position too, you know!"

"He's bigger than you; he can knock _you_ out of the Pitch. So, forgive me for not betting on you," said James matter-of-factly.

Albus raised his hands and looked at the others as if they were obviously missing the point. "You're my family, remember?"

Hugo thumped Albus' back. "Don't worry, Al. I know you're going to get it."

Lily and Rose raised their eyebrows. "What is it this time, Hugo? Do you want his radio set?"

Hugo looked shocked. "What? Just because I'm loyal to family, I get jitters from you?"

Albus patted Hugo's head. "Thank you, my man."

As Albus turned to James, Hugo mouthed, "Quidditch Kit," while Rose and Lily stifled their giggles.

Lily was about to ask Albus when the try-outs were going to take place, when, to her surprise, she saw Hayden walk into the Common Room. Almost at the same time, Lily and Melissa jumped up and ran for him.

"Hayden!" yelled Lily, even though he was only a few feet from him, afraid he might bolt again. Hayden jumped and almost stumbled. "Whoa! Do you want to give me a heart attack, Lily?"

"No, but you have a lot of questions to answer, my friend," she said sternly, catching his elbow and guiding him to a corner.

Hayden looked genuinely perplexed. "What is this about? I'm not under arrest, am I?" he joked.

"You might as well be," said Melissa, scolding. "Why have you been acting so strange lately?"

Hayden frowned. "What do you mean?"

"Why did you go to the Forbidden Forests?" hissed Lily.

Hayden looked incredulous. "What has gotten into you, Lily? Why would I go to the Forbidden Forests?"

"I saw you with my own eyes! Albus and Rose did too!"

"It must have been someone else!"

"Really? Then what were you doing yesterday? You didn't come for dinner and… you were sitting in the corridor after the curfew hour!"

If Hayden looked any more surprised his jaws would have dropped to the floor. "I seriously do not understand what you are trying to say! I have been in the dormitory all day, studying Potions. We have a test coming up next week, remember?"

Melissa bit her lips, while Lily looked for an argument. "But… I saw you… last night. You were making a weird sound with your tongue and… you looked so different."

Hayden looked at her as if she had gone mad and he was being compassionate. "I am sorry, Lily. It must have been someone else. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to go finish my Transfiguration homework."

Lily and Melissa saw him leave the Common Room for his dormitory. "You know, it _could_ be someone else. The boy you saw come out of the forest was hundreds of yards away from you. And the boy last night… well, it was dark."

Lily nodded. It could very well be someone else, Melissa had a valid point. But Melissa did not know about the centaur incident, and Lily wanted to keep it that way. So she had no way of knowing about Lusnyak's words that had been irking Lily since last night. "He was not taller than you…"

Lily did not even want to put two and two together.

_~o0o~_

Lily did not want to bring up the topic again, but she just couldn't resist when she saw Albus march down the Quidditch Pitch, with broom on his shoulder.

She asked, "Are you still sure you won't try out?"

Scorpius looked at her dejectedly. "I am sure."

"I'll say it again; it will be good for you to spend some time outside."

Scorpius chuckled. "What can I say? I am not a sunshine and flowers kind of a guy. I prefer the library. And it's no use playing for Slytherin, while you jeer me from stands."

"I promise I won't jeer Slytherin if you play."

"You want me to ruin the fantastic competition waging between two teams? You should know better," said Scorpius, grinning.

Lily shook her head and shrugged. "Fine, if you don't want to play, then don't. I'll see you later. I have to go and support Albus."

"Hope he makes it. Good luck to him," said Scorpius before disappearing in the crowd moving towards their respective houses.

Only a handful of Gryffindors were making their way to the Quidditch Pitch, where the try-outs for the next season were taking place.

Lily chose a seat in the top stand, which she thought had the best view. She saw McKinnon, the Gryffindor Quidditch captain shout at James, who must have been fooling around. After the Chaser was air-borne, McKinnon started shouting instructions. Slowly, one by one, the new players started lining up.

The first two players were a complete waste of time. They swished there bats without success, while one of them almost fell off his broom when an incoming Bludger hit the tail of his broom. Lily could sympathize with the third player – it must have been very hard to spot a zooming Bludger with glasses thicker than her father's, that too in the rain-washed twilight.

As Albus took to air, Lily involuntarily crossed her fingers. _Hit the Bludger, Al_, Lily prayed.

McKinnon seemed to find it funny if the last two contenders tried together, so, Lily saw a bulky boy – if he could be called so – mount his broom and fly up behind Albus.

If looks could kill, Albus would have been a dead bird, thought Lily. Bells was swinging his bat as if he planned to hit anything out of the way – a Bludgers, Albus' head and well, anything for that matter.

After some initial fumbles, it seemed like Albus was making an effort to keep himself safe and hit a Bludger, all at once.

Albus shot towards a Bludger, eager to hit it, but Bells, although visibly heavier, moved past him. His weight helped him gain momentum fast. Before Albus could reach, Bells transferred his almighty strength to the ball, which flew out of Albus' reach, yet again.

The chase grew tiresome, and Lily wondered how long this would go on.

"Watch out Al!"

Lily's eyes widened in surprise as she saw James shout to warn Albus about a Bludger Bells had motioned towards him. McKinnon did not look pleased, but it gave Albus a window of three seconds to swerve on his broom and swing his bat.

With a decisive 'thunk', Lily saw the Bludger deflect off his bat. The smooth trajectory, unfortunately for Bells, ended in his face.

Whoops of joy sounded through the handful of Gryffindors in the stands, as McKinnon blew his whistle.

Albus had been selected!

_~o0o~_

Lily took another swig of the Butterbeer James had smuggled in for celebration.

"How did you know he would be selected?" Lily had asked, amused.

"He's my brother, isn't he?" James had smiled conspiratorially. "And if you tell Mum or Dad I sneaked these in, you are in big trouble."

"Rose is the one you should watch out for." With that, Lily had taken the first sip of the drink everyone raved about. It was the best drink she had ever had!

After shouting and dancing for an hour as if Albus had been awarded Merlin, First Class, Lily sat down, nibbling a treat.

"Hey, Lily."

Lily turned around to see Hayden standing beside her, looking worried. "Hey. Sit down," she said, offering him a Chocolate Frog.

Hayden took it without a word and stared at his feet. Lily egged him on, "Is everything alright?"

Hayden sighed. "I don't know. I lied yesterday."

Lily did her best not to look too shocked, and simply nodded.

"I didn't want to lie to you. I… just don't remember anything. I came down to the Common Room in the morning and I brought my Potions book with me. I thought you, me and Melissa would study together, but… I don't know what happened next. It's just… blank! I cannot remember one bloody thing about yesterday!"

Hayden looked nothing short of miserable.

Lily rubbed his back reassuringly. "Don't worry. It happens," she lied. "You must have crammed so hard for the test, you forgot everything."

Hayden slowly shook his head. "That's not just it. I am having these… blank spells so often these days. I am in class, but after I come out I don't know anything about what the professor taught!"

Lily wondered if this was a clinical problem. "Have you ever had these… before?"

"No, never! I came to you because I… well, you're a pureblood, so you might know if this is a problem wizards have. And I don't want Mel to know."

Lily nodded. "I understand. I won't tell anyone. But I'll ask my Dad if he knows anything about this blank spell."

Hayden did not reply. His eyes were fixed on the dark window. "Maybe I _was_ in the forest yesterday," he said slowly, almost to himself.

After a while, he shook his head. "There's another strange thing. I found a couple of books in my trunk that I haven't bought or borrowed from anyone," he said with a frown.

"Really? What are they?" asked Lily, vaguely interested, as she picked up another treat.

"I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but something like_ Centaurs Through The Centuries_ and _Great Britain and Its Magnificent Beasts_."

Lily found it difficult to swallow the last bit of her Liquorice Wand.

* * *

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: Written for Professor Flitwick's Prompt of the Day - Prompt for Wednesday 6th April: _Sunshine and flowers _**


	8. Chapter 8

Sleep was out of question, yet Lily was floating through the layers of suspended consciousness without a moment of rest. Her mind was trying to fabricate every possible turn of events that might have explained Hayden's blank spells or the half-dead centaur. However, even her childish imagination was not good enough to construct a satisfactory theory, which only annoyed her more. She even contemplated going over to Aunt Hermione to tell her everything, but she had to talk to Scorpius first. He would know better than her, he was more knowledgeable and might know why Hayden had lost grip on his memory.

Saturday dawned bright - the brightest in a few weeks. Lily thought this was a good sign and took a shower before anyone else had even woken up. She dressed quickly, and it was not even seven when she stepped out of the Gryffindor Tower. She took the shortest path to the Owlery, without any interruption.

Rastrick, though only a medium sized bird, had not taken to his older and bigger mates in the Owlery, and Lily saw him perched at the top. Several owls had already dozen off, while some were still returning from their nightflight.

"Rastrick!" called Lily, loud enough to be heard from the owl's high perch. Rastrick hooted lightly and swooped down on her shoulder. Lily took out a treat from her pocket and he happily nibbled at it, then her finger and clicked his beak happily. Lily wasn't quite sure if she would send her father the letter, but felt that being alone up here, away from the noise might help her think better. She carefully stepped on to the big, pane-less window and sat down. Rastrick took his position on her shoulder, happily snuggling in her neck. Stroking him lightly, Lily looked out to the great big forest and lost herself in thoughts. She might have spent the whole morning there, had she not received the sharp tap on her head from Rastrick.

"Ow," she snapped. "What?"

Rastrick meaningfully hopped on her shoulder and turned his head towards the entrance of the Owlery. Scorpius was standing there, struggling to untie a package from Sophocles' legs. By now Rastrick knew who Scorpius was, although Lily suspected that was mostly because he was terrified of his large Eagle owl. Evidently, he took off as she stood up to meet Scorpius.

"Need help?" said Lily, walking up to him.

"Oh, hey," said Scorpius, looking surprised. "What are you doing up this early?"

"Just needed some fresh air."

"Is that so? Sophocles, be still!"

Lily laughed and put her arms on either side of the squirming bird's body. Sophocles did not resist - he too knew her well. Finally, after a few more twists and pulls, the package came off, and Sophocles spread out his wings in a grand flight - but not before he had condescendingly hooted at Scorpius.

"Even the owl thinks I'm worthless!" said Scorpius disbelievingly.

Lily grinned and asked, "What's in the package?"

"I will share if it's chocolate, don't worry."

"You better."

Lily took her seat back on the window and Scorpius took his beside her. "How do you manage to sit here? It's so dirty and it smells," said Scorpius, puckering his nose.

"It's quiet, unlike everywhere else in the school," explained Lily.

Scorpius nodded in assent, while his fingers pried open the brown paper of the package. Out came an old box that looked like Malfoy heirloom judging by the old seal. The wooden box was lined by thick strips of gold which looked perfectly aged, but not tarnished. "Ooh, that looks pretty," said Lily, running a finger down the edge of the box.

"But it's not," said Scorpius disdainfully.

Lily was shocked. "What? Are you blind?"

"No. But I know what this box signifies."

"What does it signify?"

Scorpius sighed and put the box aside. Lily asked again, "Aren't you going to open it?"

He did not reply but moodily gazed out at the sky.

"Oh, just spill it already. Too much has been going on lately that's going completely over my head, now don't you start being so secretive with me!"

Scorpius shrugged. "It's the Chest of Honour. It's passed on from father to son among the Malfoys, to signify who will sit at the helm of the family. Grandfather did not pass it to Father. He has now passed it to me."

Lily took a while to register why that was a big deal. Since she was still not sure, she said, "So you feel that Mr. Malfoy will be insulted by this?"

Scorpius, who had been staring at the forest, took a long time to register any expression. He turned to Lily and smiled as if she was a naive little girl, which somewhat bristled her.

"What? Is that why you are not pleased by this?"

Scorpius slowly shook his head. "No, that's not it. My father will not be insulted, in fact, he would be relieved. That is exactly why I don't want this Chest. I do not want anything to do with guarding the Malfoy honour," he said, a little bitterly.

Lily knew there was some tension in Scorpius' family, but he had never talked openly about it, so Lily did not pursue the topic. She rested her head on her hand and watched the ripples on the Great Lake quietly.

After a while, Lily suddenly remembered why she had wanted to talk to Scorpius. She related what she had seen the night before the last, what Hayden had told her in the Common Room last night.

Scorpius was quiet and Lily wondered if he had listened to her at all, until he said, "That's curious."

"It doesn't mean anything, though," said Lily, testily.

"No, of course it doesn't," Scorpius hastily added. "I'm not implying anything, but this all seems very strange and you can't deny that Hayden seems to be connected in some way."

"Not necessarily," argued Lily. "Scorpius, can you please do me one favour?"

"What?"

"Can you please ask your Mum or Dad about memory lapses, as Hayden is having? I would ask my Dad, but he is so suspicious and he would immediately start asking questions and jump to conclusions."

"But he would know eventually. If the centaurs do alert the school authorities, Professor Granger would know and so would your family."

"That's why I'm hoping they would let it pass this time."

"All right, I'll ask Father. But I am pretty sure he would tell me nothing."

"Just ask him, that's all. Now let's put this aside because there's another favour to ask."

Scorpius rolled his eyes dramatically. "Why is that I am always the one doing favours? You owe me big time, Lily Potter!"

"Yes, yes, I'll return them soon enough. This weekend, when you go down to Hogsmeade can you please bring me a few Zonko products?"

"Why? You're not planning on pranking Rathbone, I hope."

"Oh, stop joking. James wouldn't let me use anything, Mum wouldn't let Uncle George sell me any Weasley product - a girl has her needs!"

Scorpius laughed out. "Well, okay I'll buy some, but you have to promise not to use any on me. And I think I want that in writing," he grinned.

"Don't worry, I'm going to prank James."

"Be careful, you might be starting a war," warned Scorpius. After all, he had been on the receiving end of James' practical jokes for two years now. Only this year, he seemed to have cut him a slack, which could very well be because of Lily's intervention.

"He had this coming his way for a long time," said Lily. "He has been bugging me since I was born!"

"So, does that mean you will not be coming to Hogsmeade?"

"No, I suppose not. I am not James, after all. And Dad had said that he trusted me to use the Cloak wisely. So, I should not let him down."

It was Rastrick again, who reminded her that it was well past eight, which meant that she would have to rush if she intended to have something to eat before she went to her classes. Jumping to her feet, she exclaimed, "Merlin! It's eight already? Come on, we better hurry."

"You go ahead, I have to post a letter," said Scorpius before Lily bounded down the stairs

_~o0o~_

"Good morning, class," said Professor Longbottom, as the last of the students shuffled inside the Greenhouse. It had started raining again and the strong, musty smell greeted them. Personally Lily loved it because it reminded her of her own patch of flowers in the backyard. However, city bred Hayden and Melissa seemed to think otherwise and in every Herbology class they always stood nearest to the door so that they could breathe 'fresh air'. Lily did not know how the air outside the Greenhouse could be fresher than that inside.

"All right everyone, today we are going to study a plant that has been discovered quite recently. In fact, when I was in school, this was not a part of the syllabus," said Professor Longbottom, which drew a few apprehensive looks.

Professor smiled benignly. "I know this class is less than favourite for some of you, but I can assure you that today's lesson will be equally enjoyed by those who are not that fond of plants and handling manure in general."

Lily laughed. Duncan Crosby, a Hufflepuff peered into the pot in front of them and sniffed.

"No manure," he said, giving Lily a thumbs up.

Professor Longbottom continued, "If you step forward, you will be able to see that the pot in front of you has been filled with sand. Please do not put your hands in the sand yet, Mr. Berkeley. The plant you are going to study is embedded in the sand. You will also find a pair of gloves at your work stations, please put them on before proceeding."

Professor put on a pair of brown, leather gloves himself.

"Now, listen carefully. The plant we are going to observe today is called Paeliophaga," he said and dug deep into the sand with his gloved hand. After a few seconds, he extracted a round, flat, lime green rock, almost as big as a saucer, striped with a deeper shade of blue-green. It looked perfectly crystalline, reflecting a few stray beams of sunlight.

By now Professor Longbottom had everyone's attention - even Melissa and Hayden had edged a few steps closer to take a look at the beautiful object.

"What is that?" asked Duncan.

"This beautiful object is nothing but the seed of Paeliophaga," said Professor Longbottom, smiling. "This particular seed may remain dormant for over thousands of years before finding the perfect conditions for germination. The Paeliophaga seeds are found in a very specific region of the African savannah, and nowhere else in the continent, let alone the world. Can anybody tell me why this certain tree does not grow anywhere else?"

Melissa raised her hand a little nervously.

"Yes, Miss Jones. Go ahead, don't be shy. What do you think is the answer?"

"This one is bigger than an average seed, so it cannot be transported the natural agents like wind or water?"

Professor Longbottom nodded encouragingly. "Five points for Gryffindor. Yes, as Miss Jones has pointed out, this seed is quite large and heavy and I don't imagine being carried by air. Sometimes torrential rains do carry a few seeds around the plains, but only negligible number of Paeliophaga has been found outside the Southern Savannah region, and none outside Africa.

"These plants have economic and medicinal importance, you will be writing a four inch paragraph on it. Take your time on that and you can submit it next week. Now, for the class assignment, you have to extract the seed, as I have and put it in water," said Professor Longbottom, setting his seed in a beaker filled with water.

"Now wet the sand in your pot, but be careful not to flood it. You are supposed to replicate the conditions of African Savannah, not the Scottish Highlands. Now take the Paeliophaga out of the water and set it under a layer of sand."

Lily watched Professor Longbottom carefully and it was evident from his every move that the man deeply loved the subject he taught.

"Now all we have to do is wait. Make sure the sand does not completely dry up, although I don't think it will be a problem. It is a very humid day and just wet it once after half an hour, that should do the trick. Get on with your work now."

Everyone seemed to be motivated enough to do the work carefully, which did not take much time. Professor Longbottom moved through the class giving small tips, awarding points on neatness and making comments, which were almost always positive. This had made Professor Longbottom a favourite among majority of the students, and even those who had no interest in Herbology did their best to do a decent job just because they did not want to let him down.

After about twenty minutes they had all finished their potting, when Professor Longbottom said, "Sprouting of Paeliophaga is a complex process, although the seed does most of the work itself, you have to pot it and then re pot it once again."

A loud groan sounded through the Greenhouse.

"But," Professor Longbottom almost shouted to get their attention again, "when you see the results, you will not be disappointed. I will freeze the pots, so that you can start where you left off in the next class. For the next re potting, you have to heat this to a temperature of around forty degrees. The spell to use is Thermatas. The incantation is same. _Thermatas_!"

Professor Longbottom's pot heated up as they saw water vapour siphoning off the surface of the sand, until the professor jerked his wand away. "Don't use it for more than half a minute because temperature will then exceed the upper limit and your seed will again go back to hibernation.

"Now the second pot should be similar to the first, but this time you should have a layer of leaves on top of sand. You don't have to prepare it, you will have it at your tables in the next class. You will re pot the plant, like this. Make sure you have your gloves on at all times, so you don't burn your fingers. The leaves will decompose and ultimately merge with the sand layer. And when that has happened, be ready for to see you Paeliophaga bloom," said Professor, finishing all the tasks. Lily was always amazed at how Professor Longbottom did his work so fast and efficiently, when he had difficulties in ladling out soup for himself without spilling it on the table.

Professor Longbottom used a spell to speed up the process, so they did not have to wait more than a few minutes before they heard a decisive crack.

"That's the seed cracking," said Professor Longbottom, with a beaming smile that could only be compared to motherly pride.

Sure enough, the surface of the sand shook ever so slightly and slowly a light green tendril broke through the surface. They all watched in a awestruck silence as a tuft of climbing branches followed, curling over the brink of the pot and descending to the table. It's vivacious growth only slowed when it had grown a good few feet down the stands of the table, and then it started giving rise to a few more branches laterally and small, heart shaped leaves in pairs, bearing a single reddish bud between.

Immediately the room filled with a fresh aroma of the first spell of rain after a dry summer and that of newly plucked cotton.

Professor Longbottom smiled. "Paeliophaga is also known as the 'Whiff of Heaven'. It sounds a bit exaggerated now, but this smell will intensify and change as the plant grows."

When the bell rang and no one seemed very eager to leave the class. They had Potions after this.

"Don't forget a paragraph on its uses," reminded Professor Longbottom as they made their way towards the dungeons.

Lily caught up with Melissa and Hayden, who were sulking at the back of the class.

"Who bit you?" asked Lily.

"What are you so chirpy about, we have Potions now, remember?" said Hayden, annoyed.

"Yes, but Herbology refreshed me. Even ugly Rathbone can't be nasty enough to spoil my mood," said Lily.

"We will see about that."

Lily stumbled. She could recognize that hollow, distant voice in her sleep!

She turned on her heels and stuttered, "Sorry Professor."

Rathbone either deemed it below him to retort or he had an unpleasant surprise waiting in class; he walked briskly to the front of the class.

"I think I would have a heart attack soon if he keeps sneaking up like that!"

Hayden smiled ruefully. Even though he did not look unhappy, he was a bit pale and Lily asked in a low voice, "Any... blank spells lately?"

Before Hayden could reply, Rathbone barked, "Homeworks out and no points if it's shorter than five icnhes!"

With much groaning and grovelling, everyone submitted their essays which lay in an untidy pile on Rathbone's desk. Lily hardly remembered what she had written; she was sure Rathbone would know that it was almost word for word copy of the the third years' book that she had borrowed from Rose and most certainly it was less than five inches.

Rathbone flicked his wand and instructions appeared on the blackboard.

"You are going to brew the Remembrance Potion today. You will find all the related theory, uses and detailed instructions in page two hundred and ninety seven of your book. The basic method is up on the board. Get to work."

One thing Lily admired about this class was that there were no boring, lengthy lectures. Rathbone was as brisk with them as he might have been with criminals back in his Auror days.

Melissa squinted. "This Potion looks complicated."

Hayden peered into his book. "It's the last Potion of the book for a reason."

Lily had to agree. "I think I would need a vial of Remembrance Potion to remember to do the steps in the correct order."

They took out their brass scales and started weighing fig roots. Lily double checked every step to make sure she did not mess up the order as Rathbone had warned, "You have to sample your own Potion. If you jumble up the order, you might end up with a deadly concoction."

Spencer Eagleton, the boyish Slytherin with sleek hair, had taken the seat beside Lily. His lips were pursed in concentration and beads of sweat had formed on his forehead. He was already several steps ahead of her and seemed unaware of his surroundings as he put one ingredient after another and the Potion routinely turned red, then lilac and then a lighter shade of pink.

Lily had been staring at Spencer's Potion leaving her own unattended at a very critical stage and it started puffing angry green fumes.

"Lily!"

Melissa's cry brought it to her attention and Lily let out a squeal in panic. If there had been any student who had not been attracted by the fumes, their eyes were certainly on her now as she extinguished the flames under her cauldron. It did not serve any purpose and Lily felt her ears grow hot as finally Rathbone lounged to her seat in the most comfortable fashion.

With a wave of his wand the fumes vanished and the bubbling surface of the Potion calmed down.

"Useles," hissed Rathbone contemptuously and Lily could only guess what he was referring to - her or the Potion. Spencer Eagleton finally removed his eyes from his Potion to look at her cauldron. Lily did not know which was more insulting: the fact that he looked as if her cauldron was the site of mass murder or that he indignantly told her she had waited too long after step six. How could he tell that when he hadn't so much as looked at her once during the class!

During the rest of the class Lily dared to chuck in a few ingredients, hoping the Potion would adopt a colour more related to pink than green, but to no avail. The Potion seemed to have died and she finally gave up trying to make a Remembrance Potion out of what looked like pond scum.

"Potion's not our forte, Lily. Stop sulking!" said Hayden on their way back to the Great Hall.

Lily shrugged. "I know, I know. Even my Dad wasn't good at it. But this time it _was_ my fault. That Eagleton was brewing his Potion so well that I couldn't help watching it. I suppose I was distracted."

"That's a sin in Potions class," said Hayden wisely, although Lily couldn't understand why he was looking so smug. His Potion was thick enough to cut with a knife and Rathbone had told him to not bother tasting it.

Lily opened her Transfiguration book moodily while Melissa generously slathered her toast with marmalade. Hayden looked his cocky best until he dropped her bag on the ground with a loud thump.

Lily was going to snap, but stopped halfway as her eyes fell on him. Hayden looked stark white and was staring unblinkingly at the large door at the end of the Great Hall. Following his eyes, she shifted her gaze to the door and was equally shocked at the sight.

There, at the end of the aisle, a big centaur was talking to a very flustered Professor McGonagall. Lily felt as if someone had trapped the air in her lungs as Trogan raised his long finger, pointing at her.

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**AUTHOR'S NOTE: A big thanks to all of you who have patiently waited for my updates. I am sorry for being very slow at it, but I am in final year of school and I hope you'll understand. Also, to those who have asked, I did not abandon the story and certainly don't plan to. Barely two reviews per chapter is a bit disheartening, but I hope you enjoy reading.**


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